Dare To Lead As Your Authentic Self

Your Authentic Self 

 

Click the link above to watch the video: 

Photo by Daria Pimkina on Unsplash

 

 As the founder of a startup, Tracy Young often worried that employees and investors valued male CEOs more -- and that being a woman compromised her position as a leader. In this brave, personal talk, she gives an honest look at the constraints women face when trying to adapt to a male-dominated business culture -- and shares how she developed the courage and vulnerability to lead as her complete, raw self. (This talk contains a graphic story. Discretion is advised.)

An experiment to drastically shrink your workday

Lessen your workload 

 

Cari Nazeer

 

 

 Photo by Adrien Robert on Unsplash

 

Just now·1 min read

✅ Today’s tip: Prioritize your day by pretending you only have a few hours.

Look at your day today. Now imagine it was much, much shorter. Imagine you lost your electric power, your Internet connection, your phone. Imagine that by, say, 10:30 this morning, it was all going to go away. How much could you get done? What would you tackle first?

That’s the experiment Forge’s time-management expert Laura Vanderkam wants you to try this week. See what you can get done. It’s probably more than you think.

 

There’s No Secret to Succeeding As a Creative

Foster your Creativity 

 

Stop looking for the secret, start focusing on improvement.

Adrian Drew

 

Photo by Atilla Taskiran on Unsplash

As a professional writer and business owner, I receive emails on a daily basis from people asking how to carve a career just like I did. It’s both flattering and disheartening. Flattering because people believe that I, a 21-year-old from England, have the wisdom to advise them on such topics. Disheartening because I don’t.

Let me backtrack a little here. I’m not going to sit here and say that I know absolutely nothing about writing or business, because that isn't true. If it were, I’d be a fraud, since that’s practically all I write about.

The truth I’m quickly learning, however, is that nobody has the answers we think they do. It’s all an illusion.

When I was just starting out, I looked up to those higher than me on the professional ladder of writing and assumed they had some magic bullet or secret hack that got them there. They didn’t.

Niklas Göke proved that to me around three years ago. Then, Nik was somebody I admired and looked up to but had never spoken to.

“Nik, what is it? What’s the one thing you and all these other writers are doing to build such huge audiences and make so much money? Come on, man. I won’t tell anybody. What’s the key? What’s the secret?” I pleaded in a naive Twitter DM.

Anticipating an essay-long message decorated with all the kernels of wisdom I expected Nik and his co-writers to have, I was shocked to read his response.

“Adrian, there is no secret. You’ve just got to write. Every day. Don’t stop writing until you get to where you want to be.”

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

In our pursuit of wealth, fame, and career success, we often lose sight of what’s most important. That is, simply improving our craft. Achieving mastery. Becoming the best at what we love to do.

Ryan Holiday went more in-depth on this point in an article for Human Parts back in 2018. Holiday outlines a conversation that Jerry Seinfeld had with a budding, younger comedian. The young man asks Seinfeld for tips on gaining exposure through marketing his work.

Seinfeld, a veteran in the industry, looked puzzled.

“Exposure? Marketing? Seinfeld asks. Just work on your act.”

Although a simple throwaway comment, we can learn infinite amounts of wisdom from Seinfeld's bewilderment. What we have in this exchange are two types of people.

One, young and naive, seeking the secret sauce that he believes his career success to depend upon from an experienced, established professional. The other, a seasoned comedian in possession of one simple truth. That is, that there is only one important thing for creatives to pursue. Improvement.

We live in a world predicated on quick-fixes. Fake gurus populate every corner of YouTube, seeking to convince us that they hold the keys to career mastery and financial freedom. The truth, however, is that they don’t.

So why do we place so much faith in these charlatans? It’s simple. In assuming that others possess the tools to fix the broken bridge between us and success, we relinquish ourselves of any potential blame. We can look at our failures and point the finger at our coaches for misinforming us.

Placing our faith in external advice and counseling makes it easy for us to ignore our inferiority. Confronting it head-on is the only way for us to truly become better.

I’m not writing this piece to denounce and discredit all coaches out there. In fact, I think coaching can be an incredibly valuable tool. Receiving guidance from those more experienced than us can both serve to hone our skills and humble us — a reminder that others are better than us and we still have a long way to go.

Rather, the point I’m making is this: There are no shortcuts to success. As Ben Horowitz put it,

“There are no shortcuts to knowledge, especially knowledge gained from personal experience. Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all.”

The Secret is That There is No Secret

In the world of creativity, I think we’ve all become far too focused on trying to find quick and easy formulas for success — ways to ‘hack’ the system and build an audience instantly. We want to know how to write articles that’ll bring in massive amounts of readers or how to produce YouTube content that’ll skyrocket us into stardom overnight.

We look to giants like Hemingway and Orwell and even modern-day stars like PewDiePie and Casey Neistat for the ‘secrets’. We try to replicate what they’re doing, desperately wishing that our hopeless attempts to copy and steal and plagiarise will land us the views and engagements we’re so desperately searching for.

We’re looking for the secret to success. And the secret is that there is no secret. That’s not how this industry works.

Do you think Hemingway sat at a desk all day as an amateur, trying to figure out how to ‘hack’ his way into national newspapers and make a name for himself? Or do you think Orwell started out by copying what Dickens and Austen had done centuries before, mimicking popular trends in an attempt to coerce people into reading his content?

Of course not.

They practiced and practiced, writing every single day and reading the works of greats until they mastered their craft. Their work has been revered for many hundreds of years since its publication, not because they cracked some code or figured out an algorithm, but because their writing is great and people want to read it.

And here we are, at the beginnings of our careers, busy searching for hacks, memorizing algorithms, and paying to promote ourselves on social media instead of actually trying to improve our work.

In the beginning, middle and end, that should be your primary focus. For sure — continue to promote yourself online and maximize your engagements by marketing your content, but keep your eye on the ball. None of that stuff is anywhere near as important as mastering your craft.

When people love your content, content crafted from pure hard work, perseverance, and a die-hard commitment to honing your art, they’ll respond to it. They’ll clap your stories. They’ll like your videos. They’ll invest in your business.

They’ll support you as a creator not because you deceived them using clickbait, not because they stumbled across your sponsored Instagram story, and certainly not because you ripped-off somebody else’s original work.

They’ll support you because they like the work you produce. That’s it.

In the words of Ryan Holiday,

‘An artist’s job is to create masterpieces. Period.’

So learn how to create masterpieces.

The Four Steps to Finding Your First Writing Client

Subscribe to my mailing list for a free 4-step guide to finding your first writing client and weekly tips on building your writing career.

Written by

Adrian Drew

Owner of Mind Cafe. Get my FREE four-step guide to building a freelance career as a writer: http://bit.ly/3oiPsfr

15 Proactive Habits That Will Lead to Huge Results in 2021

Change the way you work 

 

  Image:  Zac Durant

2020 has been a tough year. Everyone is starting to wind down.

If you want 2021 to be better, you will have to make it better yourself. You can prepare yourself for a calmer year ahead by taking control of everything within your power. You can build better life-changing habits.

William James once said, “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits — practical, emotional, and intellectual — systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be.” Make 2021 the year of better habits.

Here are a few simple but effective ways you can start the year better. They are opportunity areas you can explore to improve every area of your life. Or better still, simple but proactive habits you can build that will allow your end goals to manifest themselves.

In 2021, don’t bite off more than you can chew — Setting ambitious and unrealistic goals you can’t achieve is a great way to overwhelm yourself.

When we make tiny changes we can wire in positive behaviours over time. Within two months or so, a new behaviour ­can become automatic; a new habit that can be the start of a big change.

Make fewer assumptions — Forget 2020. In 2021, don’t assume things will get worse(that mindset puts you in an anxious mode all the time). Carry a different tone into the new year. Be open to new possibilities about life. Remain flexible and willing to adapt to thrive.

In a rapidly changing world, the ability to change your mind or adapt is an indispensable skill. If you don’t give yourself permission to change your mind, you cannot change anything in your life.

Hold yourself accountable — Take 100% responsibility for your actions and happiness. Life instantly improves when you focus on what you can control.

End your week holding a five-minute meeting with yourself and review what’s working and everything making you miserable. And do more of what works.

Structure each day and follow a meaningful routine — High achievers swear by routines. It’s the only way to get things done. Structure your day right, do more high-value tasks that deliver 80% of the results you want.

Don’t allow your expectations to run your life — Don’t take responsibility for things that have nothing to do with you. Plan and manage what is in your control, like what makes you happy and how you react to events and situations. Let go of how things “should be”, and focus on how things are.

Notice your small wins — Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Whatever you are pursuing may take a considerable amount of time. So enjoy your progress, notice but don’t dwell on your failures and take time to recognize what you are doing right.

Learn to completely switch off from work — Disengaging from work, email and your phone for at least an hour prior to bed can do wonders for your mind. It’s one of the best ways to take good breaks from work and recharge for the next day.

Build an evening routine that can help you wind down — Put some thought into activities in the evening that can help you rest better. You could read a great book, review your day in a journal, spend quality time with your family.

Take your sleep disorder seriously — If you’ve not been sleeping well, change your habits. Cut caffeine at midday. Dine a little earlier. Reduce the brightness on your tv, phone or iPad an hour or two before bed.

Plan breaks in between deep work sessions — So many of us are chained to our desks every day. Aim to get up every 45 minutes or so a habit. It will keep you you moving and refresh your brain.

Make any change one step at a time — Want to start writing? write 500 words instead of 1000. Want to build an active reading habit? Start with 2 pages every day. Want to lose weight? Eat from a smaller plate. Addicted to your phone? Leave it in ­another room. Want to get fit? Take the stairs.

“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped, says Charles Duhigg.

If you want to start a fitness habit, start small — 30 minutes intense exercise may not be sustainable. Start with 5 minutes stretches in the morning. Do 15 push-ups or 15 squats instead of 50. Climb some stairs, or do some lunges for 5 minutes. Every little bit really does help. It’s hard to make a big change at once. Small increments are helpful.

Sneak calming activities into your busy day — If you are busy and live by your calendar, put times in the schedule when you can focus on things that can help you take a break to calm your active mind. You could plan 10 minutes walks, 30 minutes reading or nap time to decompress.

Make time to read — Seriously. It’s one of the best things you can do for your brain. A stimulated mind = a stimulated life. Read great books that can help you to think in new ways.

Diversify your skill portfolio (before you need it). It’s important to ensure that you aren’t putting all of your eggs in one basket. Learning new and indispensable skills can improve your chances of work. Don’t allow everything to hinge on one skill. By all means, become a polymath.

Changing direction in 2021 will require developing better daily habits. Fulfilment and contentment are completely within your control. So, cultivate those habits that help you enjoy life to the fullest.

Written by

Thomas Oppong

Founder @AllTopStartups | Featured at Forbes, Business Insider, etc. | Join my personal newsletter for life and career tools at https://postanly.substack.com

How To Get Better At The Things You Care About

Working hard but not improving? You're not alone. Eduardo Briceño reveals a simple way to think about getting better at the things you do, whether that's work, parenting or creative hobbies. And he shares some useful techniques so you can keep learning and always feel like you're moving forward. This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxManhattanBeach, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you. 

About the speaker Eduardo Briceño · Learning expert Eduardo Briceño is a learner, leader, speaker and writer devoted to enabling a more learning-oriented world.

Time Can Make You Happier Than Money

Time Versus Money

It’s true for all ages and stages — even for recent college graduates, according to a new study

Robert Roy Britt

Sep 18 · 5 min read

People who value time over money tend to be happier, according to multiple studies. And new research in the journal Science Advances shows that this is particularly true as a person leaves college, facing weighty career choices while perhaps saddled with debt. Graduates who value time over money are more likely to pursue things they enjoy, including hobbies, social relationships, internships, and careers that provide intrinsic satisfaction rather than merely seeking compensation, the study suggests.

Researchers asked 1,000 graduating students at the University of British Columbia to rate how satisfied they felt with their lives overall, and the extent to which they had experienced positive emotions (like joy and happiness) and negative emotions (like sadness and stress) over the past four weeks. A year later, the graduates were surveyed again.

In both surveys, about 62% of them said they value time more than money, and those people were happier. Comparing the time-money trade-off to other well-established happiness factors, the researchers found that valuing time over money brought double the magnitude of happiness related to materialism in general and happiness known to accrue from high parental income. And while the study does not prove cause and effect, it suggests that valuing time over money can also predict how happy the graduates become as adults. The graduates in the study came from families with incomes ranging from low to high, but family socioeconomic status was not predictive of their tendency to prioritize time or money.

“People who value time make decisions based on meaning versus money,” says study leader Ashley Whillans, an assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. “They choose to do things because they want to, not because they have to.”

It must be noted that the study surveyed students at the University of British Columbia in Canada. It’s unclear, without a separate study, how the results might be different among U.S. graduates. Whillans guesses — and she emphasizes that this is a guess — that what matters isn’t where students go to school but how much debt they graduate with. “If they graduate with more debt, they might feel happier in the short term valuing money more than time” and choosing a job to pay the bills, she says. “If they graduate with less debt, they might feel less happy in the short term valuing money more than time.”

“People who value time make decisions based on meaning versus money. They choose to do things because they want to, not because they have to.”

Other research links time to happiness throughout adulthood. A 2016 study of 4,000 U.S. adults found that people who valued time more than money were “happier and more satisfied with life than the people who chose money,” even after the researchers accounted for differences in age, income, and the amount of time people spent at work or at leisure. In a Pew Research Center survey, when asked to rank various activities based on meaningfulness, people chose spending time with family, outdoors, and with friends as the top three, followed by spending time with pets, listening to music, reading, and religion. In eighth place: job or career.

Of course, reality forces everyone to place some value on money. “Work equals status in U.S. work culture,” Whillans says. “We are taught that time equals money, and financial insecurity makes us focus more on money and less on time.”

---

Money can buy some happiness — but only up to a point, research has shown. In the United States, the threshold is about $95,000. People making up to that amount annually tend to report being happier than people who make less. “Once the threshold was reached, further increases in income tended to be associated with reduced life satisfaction and a lower level of well-being,” researchers stated last year in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

Meanwhile, there’s no known ceiling on the happiness generated by a few hours carved out for friends and family or days of well-spent leisure time. Older adults seem to be wiser about this. “As people age, they often want to spend time in more meaningful ways than just making money,” Whillans says.

In previous research, Whillans and a colleague, psychology professor Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia, found that buying time — such as paying for someone to cook or to clean the house — brings more satisfaction than buying stuff. In a survey of more than 6,000 people in the United States, Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands, those who spent the most on time-saving purchases reported higher levels of life satisfaction.

With that knowledge in mind, the researchers gave 60 people $40 each to spend on a time-saving purchase one weekend, and another $40 to spend on a material purchase another weekend. No surprise, the people felt happier after buying some time. But in another survey, when working adults were asked how they’d spend a sudden windfall of $40, only 2% said they’d invest in time.

Perhaps that helps explain why Americans suffer from what Whillans calls a “famine of time.” The sense of “having enough time” is at an all-time low, she wrote earlier this year in the Harvard Business Review, adding that this feeling doesn’t just reduce happiness, it raises levels of anxiety, stress, and depression.

---

To reduce “time stress,” you need a change in mindset, Whillans advises. Start by making plans for free time. You may favor spontaneity, but lack of planning leads to wasted nights and weekends, she says.

Consider volunteering. “Even giving up a few hours of a paycheck to volunteer at a food bank may have more bang for your buck in making you feel happier,” Whillans says. Multiple studies have found that people who volunteer their time are happier, healthier, and live longer. One study even found that volunteering time makes people feel like they have more of it, perhaps because “giving away time boosts one’s sense of personal competence and efficiency,” the researchers speculate.

And get active. Hanging out with friends, exercising, heading to the mountains or the beach for a dose of awe, or doing just about anything physical “is profoundly better at combating time stress than passive leisure” such as watching TV, Whillans says.

Written by

Robert Roy Britt

How AI Can Enhance Our Memory, Work And Social Lives

How smart can our machines make us? Tom Gruber, co-creator of Siri, wants to make "humanistic AI" that augments and collaborates with us instead of competing with (or replacing) us. He shares his vision for a future where AI helps us achieve superhuman performance in perception, creativity and cognitive function -- from turbocharging our design skills to helping us remember everything we've ever read and the name of everyone we've ever met. "We are in the middle of a renaissance in AI," Gruber says. "Every time a machine gets smarter, we get smarter."

Can Work Stress Be Linked to Stroke?

 There are so many relatively young people who have strokes today that this article needs consideration if you have a lot of stress in your life, whether at home or at work.  Strokes are serious conditions which in some cases it is difficult to recover from, some people never do. 

 
Can Work Stress Be Linked to Stroke?