Purpose

Pushing Beyond the Hard Stuff: Embrace Resilience and Unleash Your Life by Design

Leave a Comment / Courage, Goal Setting, Mindset, Purpose, Resillience / By / / , , , , ,

Have you ever looked at someone living their dream life and wondered how they got there? What sets them apart from the rest?

The answer lies in their ability to push beyond the hard stuff and cultivate the right mindset. It's not just about luck or talent; it's about resilience, a growth mindset, mindfulness, confidence, and purpose.

Life is full of challenges, setbacks, and obstacles. But it's how we respond to them that defines our journey. Resilience is the key to bouncing back from adversity and moving forward stronger than before. When faced with a difficult situation, embrace the power of resilience and remind yourself that this is just a temporary setback. Shift your focus from the problem to the solution and take small steps towards overcoming it.

Transitioning from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset is another essential element in pursuing your dream life. A growth mindset is the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. It's about seeing challenges as opportunities for growth, rather than roadblocks. Embrace the idea that failure is not a reflection of your worth but a stepping stone towards success. Adopt a positive attitude towards learning and view setbacks as valuable lessons on your path to greatness.

Mindfulness is a powerful tool that helps us stay present and centered amidst the chaos of life. In our fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in worries about the past or future, which can drain our energy and focus. Cultivate mindfulness by practicing meditation, deep breathing, or simply taking a few moments each day to appreciate the present moment. By training your mind to be fully present, you'll gain clarity, reduce stress, and make better decisions aligned with your goals.

Confidence plays a significant role in pursuing your dreams. Believe in yourself and your abilities, even when faced with self-doubt or criticism from others. Surround yourself with a supportive network of people who uplift and inspire you. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small, and use them as fuel to propel yourself forward. Remember, confidence is not about being perfect; it's about embracing your flaws and owning your unique strengths.

However, resilience, a growth mindset, and confidence alone are insufficient without a sense of purpose.

Discovering your purpose is about finding what truly fulfills you and aligning your actions with your values. Take time to reflect on your passions, interests, and what brings you joy. Set meaningful goals that excite you and give you a sense of direction. When your actions are driven by purpose, you'll find the motivation and determination to push beyond any obstacle that comes your way.

Life is a journey, and along the way, you will face countless trials and tribulations. But remember, it's in those difficult moments that the seeds of greatness are planted. Embrace the challenges as opportunities for growth and transformation. Believe in yourself, stay focused on your dreams, and never give up.

So, what are you waiting for? Start cultivating resilience, adopting a growth mindset, practicing mindfulness, building confidence, and pursuing your purpose. Push beyond the hard stuff, and watch as your dream life unfolds before your eyes. The power to create the life you desire is within you.

A gentle reminder that no one but YOU can create your life by design.  No one - it's all on you to make it happen and I promise you are beyond capable of doing it!

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You are more successful than you think

Leave a Comment / Entrepreneur, Featured, Fun Stuff, Marketing, Must Read Blogs, Operations, Sales, Small Business, Uncategorized / By / / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In a world where information is constantly being thrust into your face, it’s hard not to feel like you aren’t as good or successful as your friends, family, co-workers, or even celebrities. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to achieve, someone out there is already doing it, and it looks like they are doing it better. Want to lose 10 lbs.? Your friend Jane who just lost 20 lbs. is posting her wins on Instagram, cute gym clothes included. Want to start your own business? Your former coworker Bob just shared his new consulting website on LinkedIn. Don’t even get me started on the success of celebrities. You are a failure, everyone is doing things that you are trying to do and doing them before you and better than you!

If you compare yourself to certain people it\’s easy to feel like you\’re unsuccessful, moving too slow, a failure. That\’s the problem with comparisons. No matter how successful you may be, there will always be someone who is more successful. There will always be someone better, or smarter, or wealthier, or who appears happier. But don’t get discouraged, you are more successful than you think!

  • You have a few close friends. Even with the popularity of social media and the hundreds or thousands of connections you make online, if you have more than two or three close friends, be glad, because the positive effect of relationships on your life span is double what you get from exercising. Who knew! Having a few close people in your life to be social with, talk about your goals, and who know the real you are more than most people have. Not only does this get harder to manage with age, but the more successful you get, the harder it is to weed out the real from the fake.
  • You look at mistakes and failures as a learning tool. Yup, there is something to be learned every time something doesn’t turn out as expected, and if you realize that and grow from it, that’s success! There will always be trials, challenges, and obstacles–but perseverance always wins in the end.
  • You have a purpose. This doesn’t mean you have to find the cure for cancer (although that would be amazing) but you’ve found something that inspires you. It feeds your soul, motivates you, fuels your passion, and you are excited to get up every day and work on it. That’s real success – doing something you love, regardless of how much money you make or what other people think. You\’re living life your way–and that\’s the best sign of success there is.
  • You give – not take. There are so many people out there with the “what’s in it for me attitude.” But real success is finding a way to help those around you. It can be offering your opinion or suggestion on a problem area for a business connection or even helping an employee or coworker with completing a project. You don’t seek the spotlight and enjoy when others around you succeed.

There are many ways to be successful – it’s not just about how fast you accomplish something or how much money you make. There’s a lot to be said for just being happy with your life, having a purpose, and having good people to share it with. In a world with so many smoke and mirrors, and Instagram filters, you never really know the truth behind other people’s “successes.” Trying to compare your life to others will leave you miserable and feeling like a failure.

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Side Hustle Nation – Take the Leap!

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In our program the Business Success Network, we love working with Side Hustlers – people who are working their dream gig on the side while holding down a full-time gig that they greatly dislike. (Trying to avoid words like Hate – they just don’t serve me)

If you are SERIOUS about making your Side Hustle the Full Time Hustle – then here are the steps we take our clients through.  I need to them to know the following:

  1. Be crystal clear on your WHY. What is your purpose – personally, and does it align with your business model.  If the side hustle is just a way to make a buck and you aren’t passionate about it – your business will never be truly successful. You will get burned and give up when the going gets tough – and it will, get tough that is.
  2. Ensure you have a viable business. Just because it’s a great idea, does not mean it’s a viable business model.  Perhaps your market is too small or too saturated, you can’t differentiate yourself enough from the competition or you have a time sensitive thing whose time is almost up.  You need to crunch the numbers and do some market research.
  3. That you need to be a risk taker. I don’t know one business owner who is risk adverse.
  4. That you need to have a success mindset. You must focus on the long haul and not get hung up on the bumps in the road.  You have to BELIEVE you will be successful.
  5. You have capital enough to survive without a paycheck for a while – because most of your $$ has to go back into the company – typically.
  6. You need to deeply understand your customer and their journey – how they will get to you, what you will do once they find you and how you will nurture them. What will their customer experience be like?
  7. Chief Cook & Bottle washer – If you don’t have the capital to pay for help, do you have the talent, will and drive to do it all?
  8. Are you open to coaching and learning? If you have a know it all attitude – you are setting yourself up for failure. Trust me – I’ve been there and it wasn’t pretty.
  9. Are you willing to fail – but more importantly, do you have the mindset that failure is simply an opportunity to learn and grow.
  10. That you need to spend just as much time working on your business in the beginning as in it.
  11. You need to be able to sell or have a process that sells your product for you – i.e. online platforms etc.
  12. Progress NOT Perfection. You need the minimum viable product to launch – it doesn’t need to be perfect, you can always adjust, fix and change as you go. Besides you need feedback from real life buyers!

 Side Hustlers, you can make the transition, and the time is really up to you. If you are focused on the end game, that transition will be far less painful than if you look at ALL you need to do and it will go a lot quicker.

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Be an Innovator – please.

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Well so-and-so is doing this, shouldn’t I? I hear this a lot. Everything from ABC company wrote a blog on this topic to XYZ company’s website has this – shouldn’t we do the same.

Just because someone else – or a bunch of someone else’s (is that even grammatically correct?) is doing something that doesn’t mean it’s working. Plus – do you really want to be like everyone else? Where is your unique value prop if you are just like ABC and/or XYZ company?

Let’s back up.

Every piece of content you put out there should have purpose. Meaning it should serve YOUR purpose. It should serve your WHY (go read Simon Sinek’s book –Start with WHY. Go ahead – buy it now, read it tonight) What may serve someone else’s purpose may not serve yours.

It’s ok to be different, in fact we encourage you to be different. Will some folks in your industry raise an eyebrow and say, “What are they thinking?” – perhaps. But isn’t that what people said about Walt Disney, Einstein and Henry Ford? Yes, the masses thought these three were off their proverbial rockers.

When it comes to marketing – dare to be different. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test your copy, do some market research. We all know some big marketing fails – where people tried to be innovators and it was just a nasty mess. Here’s some epic ones if you want a good chuckle – or perhaps you’ll just cringe and feel bad for the CMO or Marketing firm that got fired. There needs to be some filter – and some testing! Most of these fails weren’t really market tested – well that’s my gut. If they were, the obvious would have slapped them in the face.

Take baby steps. Maybe it’s doing weekly emails vs. monthly. Or diving into Instagram Live or being really transparent about your team and what happens behind the scenes! Innovate! Trust me – marketing is all about getting noticed. Innovators get noticed. Test it out – if it’s working, expand upon it. If it isn’t – pull back.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

How do we know it’s ok to innovate? We kind of live that model here at the Red Barn. We are always trying new stuff. What’s the worst that could happen? We need a do-over? Our goal is to tell our client’s stories, to make them stand out from their competition. We have to innovate or else we can’t accomplish our goal. We may follow some best practices – like having processes and procedures, following what Google wants today – but the rest is always a new idea and a new day!

Hogwash ABC and XYZ company – we’re doing it our way and we won’t end up on the top marketing fails list in the process!

Cheers!
CD

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