MORE ARTICLES ON MINDSET AND SUCCESS

Business

Entrepreneur Mindset: Learn from the past but don’t dwell on it…

In business and in life we all learn valuable lessons. Some easy and some hard… ...

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Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur Mindset: Use Teamwork to Accomplish More

In this post, I share my heard learned lessons learned about how to use teamwork ...

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Business

Entrepreneur Mindset: Healthy Habits For A Happier And More Successful You

In this post I show you why it is important to build healthy habits for ...

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The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Learn from the past but don’t dwell on it… appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

In this post, I share my heard learned lessons learned about how to use teamwork to accomplish more in your business.

I was listening to Darren Hardy’s daily video about success the other day, he was kicking off a series on team building and he mentioned that teams should emulate ducks…

He threw out a statistic that ducks have 71% more range when they fly in formation.

Okay, so you’re probably wondering what does this has to do with this post on how to use teamwork to accomplish more…right?

Stay with me and I’ll explain why and how when built right, teams can accomplish more.

Trust me, I’ve got a lot of experience around this.

I’ve been managing teams virtually for close to 10 years now and I’ve managed and been part of many in the corporate world for over 15 years.  So you could say I’ve seen the good and the bad.

Let’s get back to the ducks…

When they fly together, they take turns leading and their formation creates an updraft which gives them an increase of 71% more flying range (they can fly 71% further) than if they flew solo.

Are you flying solo and wouldn’t you like to be able to accomplish 71% more?

Yes, it’s the same in your business…

You can accomplish so much more when working as a team than flying solo.

And if you allow your team to take turns leading you really begin to tap into their strength.

Smart leaders allow their team members to lead in their areas of expertise.

I know I can design a website, but my lead tech/designer Valerie does it so much faster and more efficiently than I can.  So I hand over the lead to her when we build websites for our clients.  

I tell her where we want to go and she gets us there.

A smart leader knows when to ask questions and hand off tasks to those who are the experts and let go of control.

I’m working with a client right now who has a great team but won’t let go of control and allow them to work independently…

Every person that they work with has to see her at least 1-2 times before being handed off.

So when she is away from her business, the rest of her team isn’t as productive as they could be and no new clients can work with them unless they have seen the client first.

A bottleneck has been created, the client is frustrated and overworked.

Her brilliant team is also frustrated and worst of all the client experience isn’t what it could be.

Worst of all…they’re losing money as a result of the bottleneck.

The solution is simple…

The client needs to let go and allow the team to lead in their respective areas of expertise.

And understand that there is more than one way to serve their clients well.

When you build systems, tasks, and operating procedures you create a way to guide your team to accomplish projects for you.

Trust me I know first hand about this.

I’ve worked with teams and with many other clients who won’t let go.

And frankly, it was exhausting.

I’ve had big teams that weighed me down because they did not have the right procedures and guidance.

I’ve been able to find a better balance with a smaller team.

We’ve got clear operating procedures, timelines, and a kick-ass project management system that gives me the desired results without micromanaging them.

And as a result, my team knows what to do and when…and they are happy about having that freedom.

Gone are the days of doing it all myself.

No more burnout and frustration from trying to be and do all things I’m not loving or suited to do.

I’m in my zone of genius working on testing new strategies to create better results. I’m better off measuring performance, tweaking systems, and developing new strategies.

My team is happier behind the scenes handling the implementation.

Lesson learned…

Using teamwork to accomplish more has allowed me to be happier and have the freedom to do what I love.

My business is flourishing.

So let me ask you…

Are you a lone ranger…trying to do it all by yourself?

Are you tired, frustrated and burned out?

Are you the control freak, the person causing a bottleneck and afraid to let go?

Or are you just drifting along, never really doing anything to accomplish your goals?

Take a hard look at yourself and your management style…you might need to let go and use teamwork to accomplish more in your business.

Let me know what you see in yourself!

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Use Teamwork to Accomplish More appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

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In order to achieve bigger goals or implement new ideas, its essential to push oneself out of our comfort zone.

Me, you or anyone who wants to grow themselves both personally and/or professionally.

Success is awarded to those of us who aren’t afraid to do the hard work, to do what feels uncomfortable at times.

Honestly… I can say from personal experience that true growth pretty much requires a constant state of being uncomfortable.

And the good news is that I’ve found it much easier to be uncomfortable when I break it down into smaller bite sized chunks.

Here’s 5 ways to get comfortable with being uncomfortable:

Step 1:   Do what you resist.

Try breaking what ever it is into bite size pieces, it works!  And pick the path of least resistance when give the choice of what to do and start there.

Step 2:  Push past hard.  

When you hit the wall or fail…keep going.  Especially when you want to just give up and back off.  I’ve found that taking some time away from the task at hand often gives me a new perspective or another way to work through that wall.

Step 3:  Go for failure.  

Have something you’ve been working on and not succeeding?  Keep looking for answers, push yourself past what you think you can do.  In other words…don’t give up.  Instead look for others who have done what you want to do for inspiration, for tips to achieve that one thing you’re looking to do.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit the wall on a few of my goals that I’m now achieving, found a new person who showed me the way.

Step 4:  Suck it up.  

Success is hard, I know.  There are many people who just aren’t willing to push themselves hard enough to do what feels uncomfortable and then there are those of us who risk making mistakes and keep working to get incrementally better until we master whatever it is we want to do.

Step 5:  Super size your goals.  

Now I am not telling you to set outlandish un achievable goals…but do set goals that are out of your current comfort zone.  Not all of them but at least 1 or 2 of them and then break them down and start working on smaller tasks that will get you there.

Look for support, for others who have done it.  Use them for guidance and inspiration.

You’ll grow into your super sized goals especially if you apply steps 1-4.

It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable!

Tell me…what super sized goals do you want to achieve?

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

When you are deeply engaged, enthusiastic and committed to creating something of excellence people around you can sense it.

I know, I have worked with a lot of entrepreneurs over the years and I can quickly tell you which ones are going to have a shot at building a successful business.

Those with positive minds and enthusiasm….and those without it.

Not only do you need to be enthusiastic to have a sound business model, you also need a  a product and service that solves a big need in your niche.  Without the right mindset and attitude nothing works well.

Your enthusiasm is contagious and at a deeper level your audience, tribe know it.

Being enthusiastic and engaged, whether it is in a blog post, a video, a webinar or a podcast is how you enroll your tribe into your vision.

So think long and hard, start observing what is going on around you.

If you don’t like what you see, you have the power to change it.

People  around you will start to copy your behavior and your attitude.  It’s built into our DNA to copy the behaviors of others, especially if you are the leader.

Take a few minutes to think about how you want to show and influence those around you.

Ask yourself.. are you inspiring or not?

Your enthusiasm is contagious, use it wisely to change the behavior of others around you and their perception of you!

Not everyone can do this…

Your energy and enthusiasm are what creates the experience.

No matter what you are doing, show up excited enthused and answer a need that your target audience has.

When you are fully engaged in what you do, it will show…and your audience will experience it too.

It isn’t a recipe or a list of words that I can give you, it is something deep inside of you that only you can create.

You’ll know when your enthusiasm is contagious because you’ll start enrolling more people.

Have you ever had the privilege of being around someone who is charismatic?

How about the contrast of being around someone who isn’t charismatic?

Years ago when I worked at Eddie Bauer in their corporate offices I had the privilege of experiencing the president at that time Rick Fersch.  He has such a passion for the business and was able to communicate and lead with an infectious intensity that was inspiring to all of us.  One Christmas I went to a party at my husband’s company in the mortgage industry.

I was shocked when his area manager spoke as he was such a contrast from Rick Fersch.

He clearly was uncomfortable, unenthusiastic and it showed…

I was so embarrassed for him and at the same time couldn’t wait to leave.

It’s called the Chameleon Effect.

Simply put:  We unconsciously mimic the behaviors  that match others in a social environment.  We do it to be in rapport with each other, to fit in.Think long and hard, look around you and observe what’s going on around you.

If you don’t like what you see, know that you have the power to change it and other’s perceptions of you.

How you show up matters.

People will start to copy your behavior and reflect your attitudes.  It’s built into our DNA to copy the behaviors of others…especially if you are the leader.

Take a few minutes today to think about how you want to show up and influence those around you.

Ask yourself this:  Am I inspiring?

Your behavior is contagious, use it wisely to change other’s behavior and their perception of you!

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Your Enthusiasm is Contagious! appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

I listen every morning to Darren Hardy’s success tips and it was perfect timing for me to here his take on how to truly motivate yourself.

I started this year off with a great plan, working on projects that are do-able and and will push me out of my comfort zone.  However, I still have some demons I need to battle because there are a few things on my list that are not staying on track according to my schedule.

There’s a couple of reasons, one is that I was overly ambitious about what time it takes to create a stellar online course and the other is that I’m afraid of putting myself out there in a big way – that I’ll fail somehow….

Yes that’s right…I’m afraid to create and launch an online course.

Even though I’ve built a system that works for a wide variety of my clients and I have a desire to be able to reach more people.

So what’s stopping me?

According to Darren Hardy we are motivated by one of two things:

• The carrot – the benefit
• Or the stick – the pain

Well I’ve got plenty of fear, but not put into the right place that’s going to motivate me.  Instead it’s stopping me from moving forward.According to studies, we are more motivated by the stick than the carrot.

Doing what we have to do is much easier than what we should be doing….so what is there that you should be doing that you aren’t doing?

I’m asking that question of myself too.

If creating consequences is a great to motivate ourselves then why don’t more people apply this theory to their goal setting?

This type of motivation  is called Loss Aversion Theory.  As human beings we find it easier to avoid loses instead of acquiring gains.  Losses are 2 times more powerful to motivate us than gains.

It has to hurt to be a real consequence that will motivate us…

This has me pondering about what does it take to personally motivate me.  What will it take to turn my “have to’s” into “must do’s”.  It’s kinds of scary to put oneself on the line like that.

Darren Hardy told a great story about how the stick method works and I’ll share it with you.

His wife had a friend who complained for over 13 years that she couldn’t loose 30 pounds.  She tried all sorts of things and nothing seemed to work.  She even tried a version of the stick where she wrote a check to a charity that got cashed when she did not reach the goal.  Darren asked her about how she felt when she wrote the check and she said it did not bother her because she liked the charity.

Here’s where the breakdown occurred, the consequence did not make her suffer.  Darren told her to try this again and this time to write a check to a charity that she hates.

Guess what?!

This time the consequence was big enough that it helped her to lose those 30 pounds.

So what is it going to take to truly motivate yourself to accomplish that one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life?

What are you avoiding or afraid of doing?

Apply this principle and watch the magic happen.

Let me know in the comments below how you’re going to motivate yourself. 

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: How to Truly Motivate Yourself appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

All of this stuff is great but knowledge is power but only if you apply it and use it wisely….

I don’t know about you but I find all of this information to be very overwhelming at times.

We read, we listen and then we go on to the next thing in our lives.

The problem is that we are constantly consuming information, never stopping long enough to digest it fully and implement what we’ve learned.

All of this learning is creating a bottleneck for ourselves.

The power is in what actions you take with your knowledge, not just the knowledge itself.  

How many courses, blog posts or webinars have you gotten valuable actionable information from that you never took action upon?

I’ll bet that there is a lot!

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by it all but what if you just took action on one thing at time?

What if you limited your focus to mastering one thing and implementing it?

Shut off the things that don’t matter to your personal and business goals. Focus on what is going to help you get ahead.  Start thinking about what you can apply to your business and follow my mantra that knowledge is power but only when you apply it….

So go find one thing today that you can take and start implementing into your business, you’ll be glad that you did!

Share with the rest of us what is that one thing you’re going to apply in your business today? 

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Knowledge is power but only when you apply it appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.

Complacency is your enemy my friend.

It’s easy to set those goals and initially be enthusiastic about achieving them.

We all do it.

We find ourselves all fired up and going for it.

For many of you, myself included we experience some growth and success.  We may even hit that upper limit that brings us right back down again to our comfort level.

Or we may find ourselves settling in and getting comfortable with this new level.  

And we end up forgetting that continual improvement is the key to continued success.  We stop innovating and changing because it’s easy and we are enjoying where we are.  

Failing to keep innovating and change suppresses the spirit of entrepreneurship.

To keep your spirit alive and experience growth, you need to continually learn, apply new methods and ideas in your business.

Haven’t you worked with someone who resisted change?  I’m sure you have, I know I have!  Think back and look at their spirit.  

Tell me were they excited about life, did they have big goals and did they get fired up about the future?

Probably not!

Let me ask you a question…are you content where you are right now?

Being complacent is easy, making change is hard…yet that is where bigger things are waiting for you.

Take a hard look at what you are doing in  your business and ask yourself:

Are there things that have outlived their usefulness?
Are there things that I can improve upon?
Are things new things that you can add to attract more clients?

Envision new potentials for yourself.

When you are actively reaching for something new and embracing change, you’ll find a surge of energy, creativity and feel more alive.

Just say no to complacency starting today.

The post Entrepreneur Mindset: Just Say No to Complacency appeared first on Kristen Poborsky.com.