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There are 1,440 minutes in a day. That’s all you’re going to have. Nobody gets more than that; time isn’t a renewable resource. So you need to find ways to improve your time management and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/rohn-5-tips-for-using-your-time-wisely/">make the most of what you have</a>. What you do—and don’t do—determines your level of success.



As Chinese author and philosopher Lin Yutang said, “Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.”



Your ability to think strategically about your day will make an enormous difference in your productivity and profitability. Highly successful people are <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/john-c-maxwell-5-qualities-of-people-who-use-time-wisely/">experts at managing their time</a> and priorities.



The good news is you don’t need to go to school or take online courses to improve your time management. You just have to use some of these techniques.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-plan-each-day-before-it-starts-to-improve-time-management-nbsp">1. Plan each day before it starts to improve time management.&nbsp;</h2>



“Never begin the day until it is finished on paper,” Jim Rohn said. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.”



Every minute you spend in planning can save you as much as 10 minutes in execution. It only takes a few moments to diligently plan your day, but this small investment will save you hours in wasted time and effort.



Decide what’s important to you and in what order. Make sure your values don’t conflict with work. Energy spent worrying diminishes your abilities. Ask yourself the following questions to help identify what’s important:



<ul>
<li>What is the highest value-added action I can do?</li>



<li>What can I, and only I, do that I’ve done well before to make a difference?</li>



<li>(If you work at a company) Why am I on the payroll?</li>
</ul>



Remember: Lists of goals, tasks and objectives are of no help unless you write them down Putting your plans on paper makes a seemingly elusive goal more concrete. There’s a connection that takes place between the brain and the hand. When you don’t write it down, it’s fuzzy, but as you write it and revise it, it becomes clear.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-schedule-your-top-priorities-first-nbsp">2. Schedule your top priorities first&nbsp;</h2>



All items on <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/organize-your-to-do-list-into-these-4-categories/">your to-do list</a> do not hold equal weight in value or importance. Most people schedule their days with a mix of high- and low-value activities. Don’t let the low-value ones hijack time and mental energy. Improve <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-best-time-management-strategies/">your time management</a> by identifying your top priorities. Then put them in your calendar before anything else.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-realize-that-urgent-doesn-t-mean-important-nbsp">3. Realize that “urgent” doesn’t mean “important”&nbsp;</h2>



Lots of people—family, friends, customers, partners—will tell you that something must be done right now. An unexpected phone call or a drop-in visitor may be urgent, but the consequences of dealing with either may not be important in the long run.&nbsp;



Before you jump at someone else’s “emergency,” pause to evaluate whether the task really should take priority over important income-producing activities. Urgent tasks are other oriented. Important things are self-directed and have the greatest value for you. Using <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/time-management-matrix/">a time management matrix</a> can help you evaluate between urgent and important. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-improve-your-time-management-by-just-saying-no-nbsp">4. Improve your time management by just saying “no”&nbsp;</h2>



Everything you do is something you have chosen to do, whether you are conscious of it or not. Some people have a difficult time accepting this truth, but your life is what you are making of it.



If you are frustrated, exhausted or overwhelmed, there is a good chance that you have not said no often enough. It may feel uncomfortable to say it and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/setting-healthy-boundaries-3-simple-steps-to-establishing-boundaries-that-stick/">set those boundaries</a>, but every time you do, you make room for a yes that really matters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-expect-the-unexpected-nbsp">5. Expect the unexpected&nbsp;</h2>



Even when you have a plan and schedule your top priorities first and say no regularly, your efforts to improve your time management can still get derailed. Do you receive phone calls that divide your focus? Has anyone ever stopped by to say a “quick hello” that lasted forever? Has a crisis caused you to drop everything? I’m sure you’ve answered yes, yes, yes. Even with the best intentions, you can find yourself subject to someone else’s agenda.



Don’t let the unexpected get you off track. If possible, carve out blocks of time when you can’t be interrupted. Work to create margins in your life so that when the unexpected happens, you are able to deal with it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-schedule-breaks-to-improve-your-time-management-nbsp">6. Schedule breaks to improve your time management&nbsp;</h2>



If you’re easily distracted, force yourself to be disciplined by allotting eight to 10 minutes per hour to use as you wish for personal calls, food runs and the like. This tactic works because you’re less likely to interrupt your work outside the prescribed times if you know the break is coming.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-7-apply-the-80-20-rule-to-everything-nbsp">7. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything&nbsp;</h2>



One of the most helpful concepts for managing a schedule is the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/paretoprinciple.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pareto principle</a>, also known as the 80/20 rule. Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, the axiom says that 20% of your activities will give you 80% of your results. This means 20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales, 20% of your products will account for 80% of your profits and 20% of your team members will account for 80% of the group’s success.



In turn, you should spend 80% of your time on the vital 20% of everything you do. If you have a 10-item to-do list, tackle the top two with the majority of your might. If you have 20 staff members, spend 80% of your time with the top four. Do these things, and your productivity and time management will improve dramatically.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-8-pick-up-the-phone-nbsp">8. Pick up the phone&nbsp;</h2>



Making a call can often generate a quicker—and more accurate—response than a time-consuming email exchange. If you need to know something immediately, voice-to-voice contact can beat cyberspace.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-9-batch-your-tasks-nbsp">9. Batch your tasks&nbsp;</h2>



Think of repetitive chores that eat tons of time daily and block out time to do them weekly or monthly. Angela Lee Diaz, founder of Omaha, Nebraska-based accessories company SHOLDIT, spent hours each week thinking up content for blog posts. “It was my biggest clock-sucker, and I quickly realized I still couldn’t get it all done,” she says. Lee’s solution: She sets aside three hours each month with a creative writer to churn out all content and schedule it in advance for distribution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-10-reflect-on-how-the-day-went-to-improve-your-time-management-for-tomorrow">10. Reflect on how the day went to improve your time management for tomorrow</h2>



If you’re not sure whether these new habits are paying off, then spend a few minutes each evening reflecting on the day. Consider what you learned, how you used your 1,440 minutes, and what you could have done differently. By analyzing what went well and what did not, you can identify productive and unproductive patterns in your behavior.



In the end, it isn’t what you think about, talk about or intend to do that shapes the life you lead. It is what you actually do each day that determines your future. How you spend your time is how you use your life. As psychotherapist Charles Spezzano wrote in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0688103995/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0688103995&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=5CSMEISHIV3PEWYF" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What to Do Between Birth and Death</a>, “You don’t really pay for things with money. You pay for them with time.”



Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.



Photo by Rido/Shutterstock.com

Your time is precious and learning how to improve time management is crucial to your success. That’s why we’ve gathered these 10 simple tips.

Your time is precious and learning how to improve time management is crucial to your success. That’s why we’ve gathered these 10 simple tips. | SUCCESS

10 Simple Tips To Improve Your Time Management Skills

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How to Improve Time Management in 10 Easy Steps | SUCCESS

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Business &amp; Branding

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Stay ahead in business: strategies and insights for success

Fred Gehring, former CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, was born and raised in Holland. There, he was schooled in the intricacies of the European market, and emerged with a peerless understanding of how to protect and develop an all-American brand, as well as to lead a multinational corporation bent on global growth.



This was no small trick. Gehring, now 68, began his involvement with “Tommy” in 1996. That year, he launched in Europe what had been one of the white-hot American brands of the 1990s, bringing with him Hilfiger’s signature rejuvenations of casual classics such as blazers and chinos. But while the company flourished in Europe—according to <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/07/tommy-hilfigers-chairman-on-going-private-to-spark-a-turnaround" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Harvard Business Review article</a> written by Gehring, “From 2000 to 2006, while Hilfiger’s U.S. sales fell every year, European sales grew by roughly 50% every year”—some initially fruitful decisions in the U.S. carried the seeds <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/john-maxwell-8-ways-to-lose-in-business/">of long-term problems</a>, and at home Hilfiger slumped.



In 2006, Tommy Hilfiger was purchased by Apax Partners, and Gehring assumed control of the American branch of Hilfiger. Four years later, in 2010, the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (now known as <a href="https://www.pvh.com/brands/tommy-hilfiger" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PVH Corp</a>) acquired Hilfiger. After some reshuffling at the top of the organizations, Gehring became the chairman of Tommy Hilfiger and vice chairman of PVH Corp. He spoke to SUCCESS at the Hilfiger flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (the store <a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/tommy-hilfiger-shutters-global-flagship-on-fifth-avenue-1203091444/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was permanently closed</a> in 2019).



<h2 id="h-fred-gehring-on-tommy-hilfiger">Fred Gehring on Tommy Hilfiger</h2>



<h3 id="h-many-people-have-forgotten-how-popular-tommy-hilfiger-was-when-it-debuted-in-the-mid-1980s-and-through-the-early-1990s-then-what-happened">Many people have forgotten how popular Tommy Hilfiger was when it debuted in the mid-1980s and through the early 1990s. Then what happened?</h3>



Fred Gehring: By the mid- to late 1990s, preppy style caught on in urban markets. Tommy was particularly popular and we designed into that urban style—baggy jeans and so on—which brought even more success. As a result the brand exploded and sold very well, and the stock price exploded as well. But ironically that success created problems. Tommy lost credibility as a preppy brand [because of the new looks]. Consumers often select a brand to help signal to the world who they are or who they want to be, and when the brand stops being a reliable signal, you have a problem. You can go from everybody wearing your clothes to nobody wearing your clothes surprisingly fast.



<h3 id="h-but-you-weren-t-having-this-problem-in-europe">But you weren’t having this problem in Europe.</h3>



FG: No. In 1996, when we launched the brand overseas, we had a choice: to position the brand as street wear or as it was originally created—preppy, classic American cool. We chose the latter, which frankly was the more difficult alternative. It wasn’t an easy choice, because the money to be made in the short term was substantial.



Tommy Hilfiger and others in the American management group at the time were riding that wave of success and enjoying the adrenaline kick, so they encouraged us to hop aboard. But we didn’t think this was a good strategy for the European market. We felt the street wear would enjoy a few years of success and then burn out. We preferred the long haul. This left us in the unusual situation of trying to position an American brand in Europe that in America no longer had that position.



<h2 id="h-fred-gehring-on-saving-the-struggling-brand">Fred Gehring on saving the struggling brand</h2>



<h3 id="h-compared-to-the-struggle-in-america-the-success-in-europe-along-with-ultimately-the-resuscitation-of-the-classic-brand-is-pretty-unique-what-lessons-did-you-learn">Compared to the struggle in America, the success in Europe, along with, ultimately, the resuscitation of the classic brand, is pretty unique. What lessons did you learn?</h3>



FG: First and foremost, don’t lose track <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-tips-for-building-and-growing-a-purpose-driven-business/">of the fundamentals</a>. It was a windfall when the American urban market latched onto the preppy look, but the attraction was temporary. Our brand is classic American cool; we lose sight of that at our peril.



The second key is to pay close attention to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/serving-your-ideal-client-starts-with-understanding-their-buying-motives/">what consumers want</a>. When we started Tommy in Europe, we learned that Europe is not one market but 30. The Spanish customer has different tastes, different buying habits, different credit preferences; the French customer will have a different expectation of how the cloth in a jacket should feel. Neither will be able to explain the difference, but they expect to feel it. The way a sales associate approaches a customer, the tone of voice—the differences are numerous and subtle. In Italy, the customer typically prefers a payment plan that will take several months; in Germany, the customer likes getting a discount for early payment in cash.



<h3 id="h-it-would-take-a-lot-of-talented-people-to-recognize-all-those-differences-how-do-you-get-the-most-out-of-your-executives">It would take a lot of talented people to recognize all those differences. How do you get the most out of your executives?</h3>



FG: Set them free. You can run an organization from the top down, with very tight controls. I prefer to find highly motivated people and delegate to them <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/why-and-how-to-help-your-team-self-manage-in-the-future-of-work/">a high degree of autonomy</a>. We maintain very effective checks and balances, so nobody can run away with the company, but as long as people generally stay on the same page, we encourage people <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/12-creativity-hacks/">to be creative</a>, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/10-things-effective-leaders-do-to-encourage-innovation/">to have new ideas</a>, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/changing-the-world-why-true-innovators-need-upheaval-with-roger-martin/">to do new work</a>. So there is some inefficiency in how we do things, but the cost of that is more than made up by what we gain from having highly motivated, entrepreneurial executives.



Beyond that, you can also take steps to keep people from slipping too deeply into their comfort zones. Stability and experience are enormously valuable assets in an organization, but you have to guard against staleness. Transferring an executive from one product line to another or from one country to another can be very invigorating.



<h2 id="h-fred-gehring-on-his-best-boss">Fred Gehring on his best boss</h2>



<h3 id="h-who-was-the-best-boss-you-ever-had-and-what-did-you-learn-from-that-person">Who was the best boss you ever had, and what did you learn from that person?</h3>



FG: Without a doubt, Silas Chou, the Hong Kong-based businessman who bought Tommy from the company’s original backer, Mohan Murjani, in 1989. He now owns a big piece of Michael Kors’ company. I learned so much from him, especially about how to treat people.



Silas is unbelievably rich, but he has a complete lack of attitude, and I have tried not only to emulate that but to hire people who have that same quality. Attitude is overrated; it actually gets in the way of getting things done. What works is openness, transparency and integrity—honest integrity that comes from the heart, not some fake integrity that comes out of a textbook.



This article was published in June 2014 and has been updated. Photo courtesy Tommy Hilfiger

Fred Gehring, former CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, shares how he led the company through its struggles in the '90s and what he learned

Fred Gehring, former CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, shares how he led the company through its struggles in the '90s and what he learned | SUCCESS

Keep a Classic Approach to Your Brand

Fred Gehring: Keeping a Classic Approach to a Brand | SUCCESS

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Jessica Krampe is the digital managing editor for SUCCESS.com. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, Jessica has worked for news, entertainment, business and lifestyle publications. Outside of the daily grind, she enjoys happy hours, live music and traveling.

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Leadership

Leadership Archives

Leadership | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/everything-you-need-to-know-to-become-a-great-leader/">Being a true leader</a>, says Simon Sinek, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3YM73xH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t</a>, isn’t about being in charge, having all the answers or being the most qualified person in the room. Instead, it’s about creating a “<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe/no-comments/transcript" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">circle of safety</a>,” a culture that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ui9rxIUKxg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leads people to feel protected</a> and free from danger inside the organization. That, in turn, allows them to focus their time and energy on protecting the organization from outside threats and on seizing big opportunities.



<h2 id="h-5-principles-of-leaders-eat-last"> 5 principles of Leaders Eat Last</h2>



Here are five precepts of Sinek’s leadership vision.&nbsp;



<h3>1. Leaders have to accept that their responsibility is not the performance of the company.</h3>



It is the performance of their people. However, that doesn’t mean numbers but whether people are <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/why-and-how-to-help-your-team-self-manage-in-the-future-of-work/">working to their greatest potential</a>. Are they being given opportunities to try and fail and try again?



<h3>2. Leaders, whatever the size of their organizations, are those willing to put the interests of other people before their own.</h3>



For entrepreneurs or <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/11-game-changing-tips-for-small-business-owners/">small-business owners</a> following the Leaders Eat Last philosophy, that means committing ourselves to the success of our clients and our customers and showing up every day not simply to grow our own bottom line but to help grow somebody else’s bottom line.



<h3>3. Online communities function like any other community.</h3>



You can’t just milk social media to tell people about your company without being willing to serve. Instead, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-craft-compelling-messages-online-and-win-new-customers/">use these platforms</a> to offer and share information that has value to other people—even if it has no direct impact on you whatsoever.



<h3>4. When an employee is going through a slump, don’t fire them, coach them.</h3>



Consider the tech company <a href="https://nextjump.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Next Jump</a>, which has a policy of lifetime employment. Once firing wasn’t an option, more care was taken to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-hire-well">hire the right people</a>—evaluating not just skills and experience, but character as well. <a href="https://www.charliehr.com/blog/next-jump-ddo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Among other initiatives</a>, they dissolved the HR department and distributed the associated tasks among the employees, making company culture a shared responsibility. Turnover went from 40% to single digits. The best leaders don’t come down harder on people whose performance is lagging; leaders who eat last <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/managing-an-underperforming-team-member/">come to their employees' aid</a>.



<h3>5. Temper idealism with realism and accountability.</h3>



While we all want all our client relationships <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/client-retention-strategies/">to be long</a>, fruitful and marked by reciprocity, the economic realities of business sometimes require us to say yes to clients we know are going to be difficult. If someone rakes you over the coals during the contract negotiations, guess what? They’re going to rake you over the coals later on, too. Treat the relationship for what it is: a short-term hit. When you’ve gotten what you need—better cash flow, for example—politely move on. We sometimes need to take on difficult and unreasonable clients, but let’s do it consciously.



This article was published in July 2014 and has been updated. Photo by Zamrznuti tonovi/Shutterstock

Simon Sinek, author of "Leaders Eat Last," shares the 5 key principles of the leadership philosophy and how to implement them with your team.

Simon Sinek, author of "Leaders Eat Last," shares the 5 key principles of the leadership philosophy and how to implement them with your team. | SUCCESS

What Is the 'Leaders Eat Last' Leadership Philosophy?

What Is the &#8216;Leaders Eat Last&#8217; Leadership Philosophy?

Leaders Eat Last: 5 Keys of the Leadership Philosophy | SUCCESS

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Hollywood loves a good story, and few have a better one than Michael J. Fox.



The charming Canadian child actor transitioned into adulthood as a box-office star miraculously untainted by scandal, and was blessed by a great marriage and family life. Then Fox’s golden-boy career was seemingly derailed much too soon by a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease—only to be resurrected by award-winning guest roles and, briefly, his own NBC sitcom before he officially retired in 2020.



The Michael J. Fox Show on NBC represented Fox’s first full-time TV gig since he left Spin City in 2001. Fox admits he had a little trepidation about coming back to the grind of carrying a TV series after his decade-long hiatus. “It’s funny. You want to go back, and the struggle I had is that you want to do the work and you want to do serious work, and you don’t want to be a novelty,” Fox says. “I think I avoided it by taking the work seriously and not cruising on any perceived goodwill.”



While the network hoped Fox’s return would be a ratings boon, the series fought to find an audience. “This [is] a warm family show. That’s what he wanted to do. It’s inspired by his own life,” says former NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke. “Somehow the alchemy of that night isn’t getting the show the audience we think it deserves.” Unfortunately, the show was canceled after only one season due to low viewership and ratings. Fox, however, wasn’t away from television for long, returning to The Good Wife late in its fifth season to reprise his role as Louis Canning.&nbsp;



It’s been a long hard road for Fox, but you’d never know it from chatting with him. In his suit jacket and jeans, he still looks younger than his years (he turns 62 in June). While there are physical reminders of his disease, he’s able to control it most of the time with medication and a healthy lifestyle.



There’s a definite hitch in his gait and some slight shaking in his head and arms. But it’s not long before you cease noticing these frailties. He sheds his sunglasses despite the glaring light so he can <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/3-ways-to-build-trust-with-your-body-language/">make eye contact</a> and quickly puts you at ease.



<h2 id="h-michael-j-fox-s-inner-strength">Michael J. Fox's inner strength</h2>



Fox’s strength comes from his upbringing and the kind of person he is, says Bill Lawrence, TV producer, writer and director. Lawrence co-created the 1996 comedy Spin City, which starred Fox as New York City’s deputy mayor.



“He’s just a hero,” Lawrence says.



“Watching Michael deal with that, and to be so professional and so giving, well, it lets you know that you don’t have a lot to [gripe] and moan about,” continues Lawrence, who went on to create and co-create shows such as Scrubs, Cougar Town and Clone High. “It changed me as a guy, as a person. I was just 26, and to see this really changed me and the way I treated other people.”



Fox’s new show takes a decidedly personal direction. He plays a popular former news anchor returning to his job after stepping away when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.



The show centers on the family, reflecting much of Fox’s own personal life. “The way I look at Parkinson’s is that sometimes it’s frustrating and sometimes it’s funny,” he says. “I think we all get our own bag of hammers, our own personal Parkinson’s to deal with.”



It’s all a matter of perception. Fox says that when you have a disability, one of the things you deal with is the way other people perceive your experience by filtering it through their own fears. And those fears may be worse than the reality.



“There’s nothing horrifying about Parkinson’s. It’s not Gothic nastiness, there’s nothing horrible about someone with a shaky hand,” Fox says. “That’s our reality. We have no control over it, but it’s not horrible.”



<h2>‘It’s about acceptance’</h2>



But that realization took a while for Fox, who has made no secret of <a href="https://fortune.com/well/2023/01/24/michael-j-fox-documentary-parkinsons-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the battle with alcohol</a>—alongside abuse of the dopamine pills used to help treat symptoms of Parkinson’s—which followed his diagnosis. He admits he <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-j-fox-parkinsons-diagnosis-7-years-of-denial-i-only-knew-that-it-would-get-worse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spent seven years in denial</a> before finally coming to terms with it and going on to establish <a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research</a> in 2000.



“Truthfully, with being able to cope with anything like this in your life, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/as-one-writer-grapples-with-her-disability-she-rediscovers-passion-peace-and-contentment/">it’s about acceptance</a>. It took me a long time to acknowledge the truth about my situation,” Fox says. “Accept that facts are facts and give yourself a lot of room to maneuver around. Once I did, there was room to do other things and be other things.”



Fox believes his first <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/look-for-the-hidden-good-and-3-other-ways-to-react-to-problems/">difficult obstacle in life</a> was not establishing his career or even dealing with Parkinson’s. “If you want to know what first drove me, I think it’s really about always being small,” says the 5-foot-4 actor. “I had a desire to overcome that and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-power-of-personal-development/">get the most out of myself</a>.”



Fox grew up in a loving, supportive family that settled in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby after his father retired. The son of a sergeant in the Canadian Army Signal Corps and an actress and payroll clerk mom, he had four siblings. One of his first loves was hockey. He wanted to pursue a career as a professional hockey player, though he soon realized that wasn’t going to happen.



<h2>A breakthrough role at 15</h2>



Acting was another passion. Fox was 15 when he landed a role on the Canadian sitcom Leo and Me.



Oddly enough, four cast and crew members developed Parkinson’s disease. That led to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/apr/04/medicalscience.healthandwellbeing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an investigation in 2002</a> as to whether some environmental factor played a role. But during a September 2013 interview with Howard Stern, Fox told the radio host, “Believe it or not, from a scientific point of view, that’s not significant.”



Fox wanted to pursue acting full-time, so he quit high school before graduating and moved to Los Angeles. He quickly garnered some success with roles in Family and Lou Grant. When he landed a role in the series Palmerstown, U.S.A. from Norman Lear and Alex Haley, he figured it was all high times and clear skies. But like any number of good television shows boasting strong pedigrees, it was eventually canceled.



The young actor quickly burned through his money, thinking his early success meant a fountain of cash would continue to flow. It didn’t.



By the time he auditioned for the role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties, he didn’t even have a phone. After auditioning, he told producers to call him between 4 and 5 o’clock at a certain number because that was the only time he would be home. The number was for a phone booth. The producers called, and Fox used the pay phone to seal the deal.



Fox’s career exploded with the series, which he parlayed into roles in box office hits including Teen Wolf and the Back to the Future franchise. 



His personal life was going well, too. Fox and wife Tracy Pollan, who played his love interest on Family Ties, started a family. They already had a son, Sam, at the time of Fox’s diagnosis at age 29.



<h2>Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's diagnosis began with a twitch.</h2>



Fox was working on the 1991 film Doc Hollywood when he noticed a twitch in his left little finger, <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/michael-j-fox-in-battle-of-his-life/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he told People magazine</a>. His doctor gave him about a decade before the progressive degenerative disease would prevent Fox from working. 



He continued to do guest-star appearances and some voiceover work for feature films, including the Stuart Little franchise. But Fox’s exit from full-time acting gave him considerably more time with his family. Twins Aquinnah and Schuyler were born in 1995, six years after big brother Sam; daughter Esmé came along in 2001.



“They were the focus of my attention, and it was beautiful. It was so great,” Fox says. “For them it may have been a different experience.”



Actually, the kids easily adapted to their father’s disease. If Fox couldn’t open a jar, he handed it over to one of the children to open and hand back to him. His children knew there were some things, like opening a jar, he couldn’t do one day but could do perfectly well the next.



“They have learned not to count on everything being the same and to react to subtle changes. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/6-ways-to-build-emotional-resilience/">They have learned resiliency</a>,” Fox says. “This never took up more space than it needed. If you ask my kids to describe me, they would say, ‘wears hats funny,’ and the last thing they would think of would be Parkinson’s.”



In addition to his family life and guest-star appearances, Fox has <a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/books-resources" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">written four books</a> and established a thriving nonprofit.



<h2>Michael J. Fox on keeping himself out there</h2>



Lawrence cast Fox in a two-episode arc on Scrubs in 2004 as a doctor with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He followed that with guest-star roles on Boston Legal, which earned him an Emmy nod, as well as an Emmy award-winning appearance on Rescue Me and a recurring guest role on The Good Wife that earned him <a href="https://www.emmys.com/bios/michael-j-fox" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">five Emmy nominations</a>.



Fox’s work prevented him from becoming forgotten in a business where you’re only as good as your last role.



“I kept being reminded of how good he is and how beloved he is as an actor,” says former Chairman of NBC Entertainment Robert Greenblatt. “I don’t presume to know what he goes through on a daily basis with this illness, but he’s been up to the task as the star of this show.”



Fox used his guest shots to keep his acting muscles from atrophying, but he also spent his hiatus building up his physical and mental state.



“I just rested. I spent that time with my family during their really formative years,” Fox says. “[I] messed with pills and new medications that help me deal with dyskinesia and some other things I was struggling with earlier that I don’t have as much now.”



And Fox credits his fans and supporters for his ability to do all he does.



“I just want people to accept what I do and allow me to be an activist, an advocate and an actor at the same time,” Fox says. “Celebrity doesn’t belong to me; I don’t own my celebrity. You do. Because if you don’t give a [darn], then I don’t have it. Everything is just a privilege.”



This article was published in June 2014 and has been updated. Photo by ©Splash News/Splash News/Corbis

Michael J Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 29. Here's how he learned to manage the diagnosis—and find success at a young age.

Michael J Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 29. Here's how he learned to manage the diagnosis—and find success at a young age. | SUCCESS

How Michael J. Fox Finds Ways Around Life's Obstacles

How Michael J. Fox Finds Ways Around Life&#8217;s Obstacles

Michael J. Fox on Overcoming Life's Challenges | SUCCESS

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The night before he was scheduled to speak to Entrepreneurs’ Organization members, Florida businessman, speaker and coach <a href="https://www.victorarocho.com/meet-victor/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Victor Arocho</a> felt anxious. The subject was sales, and Arocho feared he had little to offer this smart group of businesspeople.



“What am I going to teach a bunch of entrepreneurs, especially in our group?” Arocho recalls thinking. “Some of them are serial entrepreneurs, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-start-a-business-in-a-day/">they’ve built businesses</a>, and they’ve sold businesses. I was thinking, Doesn’t every entrepreneur <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/serving-is-the-new-selling-and-other-tips-for-having-your-best-sales-year-ever/">know how to sell</a>?”



That 2010 presentation went surprisingly well. Originally scheduled for 45 minutes, Arocho’s audience kept him for an additional 45 minutes. “These entrepreneurs were taking pages of notes and listening and asking questions,” Arocho says. “It blew my mind. The lights just turned on.”



<h2 id="h-finding-a-gap-in-the-sales-staff-market">Finding a gap in the sales staff market</h2>



What Arocho learned was that entrepreneurs may have certain strengths as innovators, but many of them could use help when it comes to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-help-your-sales-team-overcome-the-4-most-limiting-mindsets/">developing effective sales staff</a>. He turned the experience into the inspiration for his next business, Potential Sales &amp; Consulting Group, the suburban Florida firm he founded in 2011 to help companies develop top sales teams. “It was my aha moment,” he says.



Arocho tapped into his strength as a sales team builder for that nerve-racking sales talk and his new business. He had learned to assemble elite sales teams while he was co-owner of a Florida-based auto-insurance company, one he and a partner created after raising $14 million. (He sold his stake in that business to start his consulting group.)



All new employees of his insurance firm were required to go through a six-week bootcamp in which they were taught every aspect of the business, regardless of their position with the company. They also had homework and quizzes each day.



“Usually after about four weeks, you’d see people fall out. The rest became really close and became the talent of the company,” Arocho says.



Through the bootcamps, Arocho learned a lot about his employees. “It taught you <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/4-ways-to-build-grit-when-you-need-it-most/">what their work ethic</a> was like. It taught you whether <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/3-key-qualities-of-a-good-team-player/">they were team players</a>. We had to let some people go. It was almost like Survivor. We felt if 100% came through, it wasn’t tough enough.”



<h2 id="h-filling-that-sales-staff-niche">Filling that sales staff niche</h2>



As he conceived of his new sales consulting company, Arocho thought the same approach would work well in building sales teams for other companies. He compares it to becoming a member of the Navy SEALs or a football team.



A former college football player from New Jersey, Arocho readily applies sports analogies to business and believes his athletic experience influences his approach. “One, you want to win. Two, you have to do the fundamentals every day. People have to train hard and apply the same kind of discipline.”



Those principles convinced Arocho the consulting firm would fly. “There is something here. It had viability. I thought, What do you bring to the table? What problem do you solve? I found the problem was building the infrastructure of sales from A to Z, from the operations side to the distribution side.”



While <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/how-to-write-a-business-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing a business plan</a>, Arocho talked to friends in academics and learned that sales was not a part of most MBA curriculums. That became the gap he sought to fill with his consulting business. “Entrepreneurs get to a certain level, and they can’t scale the business” because they can’t increase their sales enough to do so, he explains, even though their expertise in other areas—“in their vision and ideas and innovation”—exceed his own. Arocho likes to say he runs his company like a talent agency in which the clients are the talent, and his company is trying to help them generate box office sales.



Like doctors and lawyers, salespeople need to pay their dues, to practice and have continuing education, Arocho says. “It takes time to build a winning team”—and to fix a broken sales process, he continues. “The whole culture has to be about sales.”



<h2 id="h-a-sales-success-story">A sales success story</h2>



Getting his consulting business moving had its obstacles and challenges. Arocho admits he was slow to embrace the idea of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/tiktok-is-here-to-stay-is-your-brand-ready/">spending time on social media</a> in order to blog, write articles for websites or use LinkedIn. It felt alien to Arocho, who was accustomed to real-life networking on the road and meeting people in person.



“It was a regimen I had to get used to,” he says. “If I was in front of the computer, it felt like I wasn’t doing anything. I started to write and find an audience; I started to get out a message. I realized it’s OK to be in front of the computer for an hour.”



The result was a wide network of contacts and potential clients bringing in assignments across the United States as well as in South America.



This article was published in September 2014 and has been updated. Photo by southfloridaphoto.com

Victor Arocho found that entrepreneurs weren't sure how to build an elite sales staff. So he built a business to help—here's how.

The night before he was scheduled to speak to Entrepreneurs’ Organization members, Florida businessman, speaker and coach Victor Arocho felt anxious. The | SUCCESS

Victor Arocho on Creating an Elite Selling Team

Victor Arocho Wants to Help Your Sales Staff Grow | SUCCESS

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When Robert Glazer founded the global affiliate and partner marketing agency <a href="https://www.accelerationpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acceleration Partners</a>, his timing wasn’t great. It was 2007, and the global economy was <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-recession/">spiraling toward a massive recession</a>.



It took patience, but the business took off. Acceleration Partners has <a href="https://www.inc.com/profile/acceleration-partners" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously been ranked</a> among the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The company drove over $7.3 billion in revenue for their clients in 2022 alone. Glazer has certainly made a name for himself in business.



“The best businesses don’t need to sell as much because they have people calling on them,” Glazer says. The key, he continues, is maintaining consistently excellent results: “We’re really focused on making sure every [client] is at a certain level—not having one or two success cases surrounded by a lot of mediocrity.”



<h2 id="h-thinking-long-term-is-robert-glazer-s-key-strategy">Thinking long-term is Robert Glazer’s key strategy</h2>



During his tenure as CEO, Glazer’s preferred method of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-start-a-business-in-a-day/">building a company</a> delighted his clients, which often led to referrals. Cultivating a talented core staff and doing bigger projects with just a few select clients best positions a business for long-term results, he believes.



“We also put a lot of time into recruiting and trying to find the right people,” Glazer says. “I’ve always liked businesses that… are about <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/client-retention-strategies/">holding onto people</a> and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/5-ways-to-thrill-your-customers/">keeping them happy</a>.”



Even if few realized the coming recession when Acceleration Partners opened for business, Glazer was already thinking long-term. His focus on larger projects with fewer clients succeeded when he served as vice president of corporate development for Isis Parenting. So, he employed a similar strategy at Acceleration Partners. Glazer also ran Bobby’s Best, a source for product research and buying tips, which he began as his first solo venture in 2005.



It’s hard for Glazer not to think long-term, even in personal matters. His concern for the future was on display when he adopted green building practices in constructing his home. “The decision I made about building a house and not having it be wasteful is the same approach we take in business, too,” Glazer says. “Let’s not waste relationships, let’s not waste money, let’s find the right people and let’s do things for the long run.”



<h2 id="h-business-success-and-interpersonal-relationships">Business success and interpersonal relationships</h2>



When he’s not busying himself with his company, he has plenty to keep himself occupied. An author, global council member at JA Worldwide, Boston board member at BUILD and a board of advisers member at Future, Robert Glazer has no shortage of work.



Mentorship is a cornerstone of Glazer’s philosophy, he says, because while giving, you also gain a lot.



“I think when you volunteer, you see other perspectives. You see need; you understand how to help people,” Glazer says. “It’s not about you, it’s about them, and I think that’s a great perspective for an entrepreneur… It’s easy to write a check, but when you’re volunteering, you’re out there seeing folks who are impacted. I think it makes more of an impression.”



It’s no shock that Glazer so easily sees the link between <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/strong-relationships-are-still-the-key-to-business-success/">business success and interpersonal relationships</a>, considering that his studies at the University of Pennsylvania focused on business and industrial psychology. Networking has been a key to Glazer’s successes, especially during his previous membership in the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, where he says he learned from others who shared similar business experiences and advice.



“I just think it’s a total no-brainer for anyone who’s going through the growth of a business, when they have not done it before, to sit and talk with people who have,” he continues.



<h2 id="h-robert-glazer-s-best-business-advice">Robert Glazer’s best business advice</h2>



One bit of advice Glazer would give his younger self is to focus on his passions. Forget your weaknesses, he advises, home in on your strengths and be determined to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/want-to-reach-your-potential-then-be-a-learner/">learn and become better</a>. “People seem to be most successful when they’re doing what they love and it’s something they’re passionate about,” he says.



Among Glazer’s business inspirations is Herb Kelleher, the co-founder of Southwest Airlines, who created a new approach to the airline industry. Singing flight attendants, wisecracking pilots and unassigned seats were not for everyone, Glazer says, but the appeal was clear to Southwest’s target customers. “They defined their culture and what they stood for,” Glazer says. Kelleher’s resolve to build a better product and ignore traditional rules is something Glazer admires in an entrepreneur.



Glazer is a fervent disciple of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/80-20-rule.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the 80-20 rule</a>, otherwise known as the Pareto Principle. It states that 80% of outcomes are derived from only 20% of the input. “I’m a big believer that it’s not as much about to-do lists, sometimes, as <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-a-to-dont-list-can-help-you-achieve-your-goals/">stop-doing lists</a>,” he says.



In business, this means recognizing the most important factors and allowing those to receive the most attention.



Glazer uses the Pareto Principle to prioritize his business and personal life, focusing on the vital 20% of activities responsible for most of the rewards. By zeroing in on and pleasing a select few clients as well as embracing mentorship and sustainability, Glazer has maximized his daily efforts for long-term triumphs.



This article was published in April 2014 and has been updated.

Robert Glazer founded Acceleration Partners when a recession was coming. His business was successful, and it's still going strong—here's why.

Robert Glazer founded Acceleration Partners when a recession was coming. His business was successful, and it's still going strong—here's why. | SUCCESS

Look for Long-Term Triumphs

Robert Glazer's Strategies for Success in Work & Life | SUCCESS

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5 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader

<h4 align="center">“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle</h4>
The difference between good leaders and great leaders is the habits they master. Here are some behaviors you can develop to become a better leader:
<h2>Habit #1: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/the-best-time-management-strategies/">Manage your time.</a></h2>
The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness (CMOE) found that leaders spend an average of over five hours a day on email and phone calls alone. Along with daily interruptions, it can be extremely hard to make progress on critical projects. In her book Finding Your Balance, Joan Gurvis recommends that instead of multitasking, you try a technique called “channel changing.” Instead of doing several things at once, give each person or activity your full attention and commitment; when you have completed that, change to another “channel,” again giving it full attention. Working in focused chunks of time is more effective than allowing today’s to-do list to manage you.
<h2>Habit #2: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/how-to-delegate/">Learn to delegate.</a></h2>
One shortcoming to being a better leader is trying to accomplish everything by yourself. There are plenty of reasons why. Maybe you’re a perfectionist who feels it’s easier, or maybe you feel your own work is better than that of your employees. A great leader knows that his or her most important task is developing others—teaching people how to think and ask the right questions. It is a skill that is the <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/delegateeffectively.aspx">least developed</a> in most organizations. The bottom line: If leaders don’t delegate, subordinates don’t learn to improve and organizations can’t grow.
<h2>Habit #3: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-why-you-should-make-friends-with-everyone-on-your-team">Walk around.</a></h2>
Although email and texts are great for communicating across time and distance, effective leaders realize the value in talking face to face. One of the best ways to find out what’s going on is to set aside time each week to get out of your office and talk to everyone—the receptionist, the supply clerk and team members, not just managers. You will uncover problems and opportunities you may never have learned of otherwise. When you ask people how they are doing, what’s working well and what could work better, you not only get information but also increase the camaraderie between you and your employees.
<h2>Habit #4: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-tips-to-become-a-better-listener">Listen deeply.</a></h2>
Richard Branson says leaders should <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-advice-listen-more-than-you-talk-richard-branson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen more than they talk</a> because that’s how they learn what’s going on. Great leaders learn to listen for context as well as content—what I call deep listening. Deep listening is being fully present in the moment with the person who is speaking, and not trying to judge or control the conversation. We let go of our assumptions to hear not only what is being said, but also the emotions, motives, needs and goals of the person speaking. This kind of listening builds trust and respect, and it encourages the sharing of information you need to make good decisions.
<h2>Habit #5: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-things-effective-leaders-do-to-encourage-innovation">Be open to new ideas.</a></h2>
The most successful organizations are the ones that do things first and do things best. A great leader is always looking for the next big idea—one that improves the efficiency of the current operation or makes a product better. The leader who encourages new ideas from everyone, who is not afraid to support the team to drive their ideas forward, is the leader whose team members will create noteworthy innovation.

As with everything, some of these habits will be easier to develop than others. The real goal is to improve the way you lead, and with practice and time spent on the right things, you can become the leader you want to be.
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/do-these-7-things-if-you-want-to-become-a-leader">Do These 7 Things If You Want to Become a Leader </a>

The difference between good leaders and great leaders is the habits they master.

The difference between good leaders and great leaders is the habits they master. | SUCCESS

5 Habits That Will Make You a Better Leader | SUCCESS

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Personal Development

Personal Development Archives

Personal Development | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

As the instructor passed around unicorns cut out of construction paper and a “Never Give Up” coloring page, that’s when I knew. This was not where I would best learn how to be an adult. And also that I had just wasted $10 and one hour of my life.
<div id="_idContainer003" class="Basic-Text-Frame">
I was in the back of a coffeehouse, at the last class in a 12-week series called Adulting 101—“a peer-led experience in learning some of the basics of adulting”—but it was my first time and, coming in, I didn’t really know what to expect.

<blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/adulting-101-9-life-skills-you-need-to-become-the-ideal-grown-up">Adulting 101: 9 Life Skills You Need to Become the Ideal Grown-Up</a>
</blockquote>
What I found was about 10 people, all sitting around a conference room table, all there to take part in a conversation about “how to tap your inner Boss B*tch and start winning at life.”
We talked about the qualities of a Boss B*tch. They have a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-clever-tricks-to-trigger-positive-emotions">positive energy</a>; they’re brave and vulnerable; they set out to change the world. We talked about the one thing that stands between us and being a Boss B*tch, and that thing is F.E.A.R.: Fight Everything And Run. And to change that, you have to “Find Energy And Rise.” Because, I’m told, rising is easier than running.
It all sounds inspiring, but I wondered how I would put it to work in my life. Or if it was just a cop-out. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/why-motivation-is-garbage">Empty motivation.</a>
I realized that maybe I was better off figuring this out on my own.
***
My first job out of college was actually a fellowship—a glorified internship for postgrads—with a big media company that would give my résumé the credibility it needed and me the working experience I needed.
I was excited because I was starting my career in journalism with a bang and relieved because this is what I’d worked so hard for over the past four years. I was also anxious because I didn’t know a soul in Birmingham, Alabama, nor had I ever visited. But mostly I was scared. To leave my family and my friends. To move away from home. To be on my own. Looking back, I know I was just scared to grow up.
I cried as I drove past the Gateway Arch, watching St. Louis get smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror until it disappeared altogether. So many questions overwhelmed my mind: How was I going to survive on $10 an hour? I was going to be broke, wasn’t I? What if I wasn’t good at my job? Would I have friends? What was I going to do on weekends with no friends?!
God, get it together, I thought, sniffling away the tears. You’re an adult.
But I definitely didn’t feel like one.
***
Back then, I had a plan for my life: get married by 25 and have kids by 27. Except my plan didn’t work. I’m behind. I’m 28, and I have done neither of those things. But what I’ve learned is that that’s OK. I’m fine. It’s normal.

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter" style="text-align: center;">People just want to find support in the struggle of finding their own way.</h3>
It takes longer to grow up today than it did in the past. In the traditional sense, anyway. In 1960, the median marriage age was 20 for women and 23 for men. Now, it’s 27 for women and 29 for men, and it’s still rising. It’s not that we think marriage and parenthood aren’t important, so what’s happening?
I asked Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a professor of psychology at Clark University in Massachusetts. He says it’s because so much has changed in the past 50 years in the lives of young people—a reflection of four revolutionary changes that took place in the 1960s and 1970s:

<ul>
 	<li class="BODY">The Technology Revolution—when the U.S. shifted from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy, requiring more education for longer than ever before.</li>
 	<li class="BODY">The Sexual Revolution—when the birth control pill was invented, breaking the link between sexuality and marriage for the first time.</li>
 	<li class="BODY">The Women’s Movement—when educational and professional options opened up to women, changing how they planned their lives.</li>
 	<li class="BODY">The Youth Movement—when young people were no longer in a hurry to grow up, celebrating and prolonging their youth instead.</li>
</ul>
Arnett says these changes created space for a new life stage between adolescence and adulthood called emerging adulthood, a phase characterized by a lot of change and instability and trying to find your place in the world. He coined the term and wrote about the in-between age in his book <a href="https://amzn.to/3Oys0Kn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens Through the Twenties</a>.
“Emerging adults know they are supposed to have a Plan with a capital ‘P’—that is, some kind of idea about the route they will be taking from adolescence to adulthood, and most of them come up with one,” Arnett writes. “However, for almost all of them, their Plan is subject to numerous revisions during the emerging adult years. With each revision in the Plan, they learn something about themselves and take a step toward clarifying the kind of future they want.”
There’s an excitement in this period of independence, about the possibilities ahead of you, but accepting that kind of responsibility for yourself brings a lot of anxiety, too—that you won’t get what you want, that you’re progressing too slowly, that you can’t answer the question, Who am I and what do I want to do with my life?
It can also make you cry as you’re leaving St. Louis or pay money for a coffee shop class on how to be an adult.
***
<img class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__37526 img__view_mode__full aligncenter" style="width: 75%;" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/adulting_whatyouneedtobeafunctionaladult.jpg" alt="Why Is Adulting So Hard?" />
Kelly Williams Brown is the person who popularized the word adulting. She’s experienced those feelings of incompetence. Which is exactly why I decided to read her book, <a href="https://amzn.to/3SwIfbT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 535 Easy(ish) Steps</a>.
“What’s that you say?” Brown writes. “You’re a colossal sham who will never have your life in order? One who eats microwave taquitos in lieu of breakfast? One who has many dead bugs trapped between windowpanes in your bedroom, which doesn’t even make sense, because how did they even get there? One whose actions do not reflect the fact that, chronologically, you are absolutely, completely, and undeniably an adult?”
She totally gets me.
To her, the concept of adulting isn’t about a word. It’s about acknowledging that being a grown-up is a hard and complicated and messy process, and we all think we’re doing it wrong.
“I can’t adult today” is something I see and hear and think a lot. It’s not that we’re lazy or irresponsible, and I can’t speak on behalf of my entire generation, but I think we fall back on the adulting thing as a relatable way to feel less alone in this big, unforgiving world. A lot of people just want to find support in the struggle of finding their own way.
And as much as this word is new, the feeling is not. “Of course you think that. Everyone does,” Brown continues. “There is not one adult on this earth who has not felt the deep, unsettling feeling that their life is wobbly and unmanageable, no matter how diligently they sort the recycling and iron their sensible slacks.” Preach.
For me, it’s cooking. I don’t do it. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is stand in the kitchen. And I’m not good at grocery shopping—I go when I’m hungry, and I never make a list. So I end up eating a lot of Chipotle burrito bowls and frozen meals. And snacks, lots of snacks.
I feel guilty for not being more domestic. Cooking is one of those basic human skills I should be practicing, and even enjoying, right? I’ve tried tricking myself into liking it by signing up for Blue Apron deliveries and saving Tasty recipes for later, but I never follow through. There are so many other things I could be doing instead of Googling “how to cut up an acorn squash” (and failing miserably at it).
I don’t plan on living my whole life as a fast-food queen, but like Brown so nicely reminds us, “You’re not a better or worse person if you have a soup ladle”—or a stocked pantry in my case. And I’m good at other grown-up things: I work hard at my job. I keep my apartment clean and my bedroom neat. I pay my bills on time and stick to a (loose) budget. I feed my cat. I take care of my car. I work out and get eight hours of sleep. One day I’ll <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/how-i-grew-by-learning-how-to-cook">add cooking to that list</a>. Just not today.
***
Sometimes I feel lost. Like I’m supposed to be doing more than I am, or I’m definitely not doing it right, or I don’t even know where to start. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/11-subtle-signs-of-anxiety-you-might-not-notice">It’s an anxious feeling.</a>
The real world is this big, scary, gigantic unknown when you see it for the first time. It was so scary to me that I cried when I drove toward it five years ago. I couldn’t see past my blurry tears that I was going to be OK.

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter" style="text-align: center;">“You are a grown-ass man, or grown-ass woman, and you can act like it even if you don’t feel like it on the inside.”</h3>
“For the first 22 years of our lives, we lived in this structured environment, where not only do we know what’s expected of us, we know what’s coming next,” Brown says. “Then all of a sudden, you’re in this wide open, crazy space. Here you are, and you have no idea what you’re doing.”
So what are you supposed to do then? Punch that anxiety in the face and focus on what you can control, stop feeling guilty about the things you can’t and just act like a grown-up. “Adult isn’t something you are; it’s something you do,” Brown writes. “You are a grown-ass man, or grown-ass woman, and you can act like it even if you don’t feel like it on the inside.”
Reading and researching this, I’ve learned that adulting is not necessarily something you can figure out all at once, and especially not in a coffee shop conference room—the same way you can’t necessarily plot the dates of giant life events years in advance. Life isn’t that black and white; it’s abstract and it’s individualized. The older I’ve become, the more I’ve realized that, like a lot of things in life, this is something you figure out as you go, and that’s OK.
<a href="https://youtu.be/fv8KpQY0m6o" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In a TEDx Talk two years ago</a>, Arnett told the audience: “During emerging adulthood, you have a rare freedom and a brief freedom, and you should make the most of it…. Don’t let anybody stampede you to adulthood before you’re ready. Adulthood will be ready when you are.”
So maybe that’s what I’m supposed to feel. Not lost. Just free.

<blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/youre-killing-it-15-quotes-for-an-unstoppable-attitude">You’re Killing It! 15 Quotes for an Unstoppable Attitude</a>
</blockquote>
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-september-2017-elon-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">September 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

</div>

This is my journey to becoming a functional grown-up.

This is my journey to becoming a functional grown-up. | SUCCESS

Why Is Adulting So Hard?

Why Is Adulting So Hard? | SUCCESS

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Top performers are crucial to a company’s success and continued growth, and while they may have produced consistently in the past, no one can keep moving at full speed without running out of gas at some point. The best employees can burn out. The best managers can help.

So instead of just hoping a top performer will start producing again, here are six things managers can do to help them get revved up:
<h2>1. Find out what motivates your top performers.</h2>
Understand your top performer’s individual motivators and create incentives specific to them. For example, if a person likes awards and recognition, be sure to provide more praise than normal. If they are motivated by face time with leadership, make sure to give them that extra one-on-one. Maybe they are motivated by teaching others; in that case, give them the opportunity to mentor or coach newer team members.
<h2>2. Switch up responsibilities.</h2>
If mangers sense a top performer is at the risk of burnout, they should give them a special project based on what interests them. This shouldn’t be something that will consume their time or add to their workload, but rather something that adds accountability and ownership to their current role. For example, make them a point person for an internal initiative, like leading a volunteer activity or organizing a company-wide sports team. This will add variation and re-inspire them.
<h2>3. Add competition.</h2>
For the most part, top performers like competition. Just as in sports, if you’re playing against a team that isn’t very good, sometimes you play to their level. If a manger is worried about a top performer being burned out, bring in someone else at their level to up their game, to challenge them and motivate them to be the best again.
<h2>4. Reinvest in them.</h2>
Managers need to show they care about their top performers and about their success at the company. When employees feel invested in, they most likely will be more loyal to the company and want to work harder. Spend more time with them, provide them with training courses or give them the opportunity to continue their education outside of the office.
<h2>5. Go back to what worked.</h2>
Look at their current processes and see if they are different from what they were doing before as a top producer. If it’s different, they should go back to what worked.
<h2>6. Be empathetic.</h2>
Don’t assume your top performers aren’t producing due to lack of motivation or work ethic, because it could be that they are dealing with personal issues or problems. Set up a one-on-one and ask if anything is going on inside or outside of work. It’s important to have a candid conversation and create a game plan to help them overcome any current obstacles.

How managers can re-inspire and re-energize their top performers

How managers can re-inspire and re-energize their top performers | SUCCESS

6 Ways to Motivate Your Employees When They're Feeling Burned Out

6 Ways to Motivate Your Employees When They&#8217;re Feeling Burned Out

6 Ways to Motivate Your Employees When They're Feeling Burned Out | SUCCESS

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Quotes

Quotes Archives

Quotes | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

Fear is something that lurks in the shadows of our minds, something that haunts us, paralyzes us.
And like anybody else, I know what fear feels like. When I’m anxious about something, my stomach does somersaults and my throat gets tight. My mind gets tangled, muddled—the worry, the dread, stalks my thoughts.
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-fear-warps-your-thinking-and-3-ways-you-can-fight-back">How Fear Warps Your Thinking—and 3 Ways You Can Fight Back</a>
<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/the-5-fears-youve-never-had-the-guts-to-face">What are you afraid of?</a> Have you ever really thought about it, the things that distract you, that are holding you back? Are they worth fearing? Are they really worth the angst, the stress? Probably not. Because worry never really fixes anything, you know? Like author Leo Buscaglia said, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” Preach.
I know that’s easier said than done, to just stop…. I mean, you’re talking to the queen of overthinking. But maybe these <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/15-uplifting-quotes-for-positive-vibes">motivational quotes</a> about fear—about understanding it and facing it—can help us both.
Let’s face our fears together. Let’s show ‘em whose boss. Ready? I am.
<h3>1. “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”</h3>
― Marie Curie
<hr>
<h3>2. “Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.”</h3>
— Napoleon Hill
<hr>
<h3>3. "Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it."</h3>
— Judy Blume
<hr>
<h3>4. “Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.”</h3>
— Norman Vincent Peale
<h3>5. “Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.”</h3>
— Orison Swett Marden
<hr>
<h3>6. “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”</h3>
— Eleanor Roosevelt
<hr>
<h3>7. “Always do what you are afraid to do.”</h3>
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
<hr>
Related:<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-tips-to-overcome-your-probably-irrational-fears"> 5 Tips to Overcome Your (Probably Irrational) Fears</a>


Photo by Mat Reding/Unsplash.com

Fear is something that lurks in the shadows of our minds, a “monster” that haunts us, a “spell” that paralyzes us.

Fear is something that lurks in the shadows of our minds, a “monster” that haunts us, a “spell” that paralyzes us. | SUCCESS

7 Motivational Quotes to Help You Face Your Fears (Because Worry Never Fixes Anything)

Fear-Facing Motivation: 7 Quotes to Overcome Worries

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<a href="https://apple.co/2e8YSd4" style="line-height: 20.8px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on iTunes" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__32259 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/get_success_podcast_on_itunes.png" style="width: 97px; height: 35px;" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://stitcher.com/s?fid=100890&amp;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on Stitcher" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34172 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/stitcher_0.jpg" style="width: 75px; height: 38px;" /></a> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/success-talks/id1159749342?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUBSCRIBE</a> on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher app so you don't miss an episode!

“I never stop learning, because your bank accounts are a reflection of what happened before—not a reflection of what’s happening now.” Those words from dynamic billionaire Mark Cuban encapsulate his interview with former publisher of SUCCESS magazine Darren Hardy.&nbsp; From the set of Shark Tank, Cuban talks about his successes and failures, and how he has managed to make his dreams a reality.

<div>
This interview appears on the SUCCESS Talks Collection, available in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-october-2015-the-sharks.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 2015 edition of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

<div>
<h3>Favorite quote:</h3>

“We live in a country where we have a unique opportunity to create dreams and live up to them.”

—Mark Cuban

<h3>You might also like…</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-keep-yourself-motivated-for-entrepreneurial-success">The Shark Tank Guide to Surviving the Treacherous Waters of Entrepreneurship</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-keep-yourself-motivated-for-entrepreneurial-success">How to Learn Something New</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-keep-yourself-motivated-for-entrepreneurial-success">7 Ways to Keep Yourself Motivated for Entrepreneurial Success</a></li>
</ul>

&nbsp;

SUCCESS Talks, the popular audio program included every month in SUCCESS magazine, is now available as a weekly podcast. We feature fascinating interviews with prominent business, creative and thought leaders such as Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Tim Ferriss and Barbara Corcoran, and include key takeaways designed to help you put information into action.

Catch up on all individual episodes at <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/SUCCESSTalks">SUCCESS.com/SUCCESSTalks</a> or download the monthly SUCCESS Talks Collection with your magazine subscription.
</div>
</div>

“I never stop learning, because your bank accounts are a reflection of what happened before—not a reflection of what’s happening now.” Those words from dynamic billionaire Mark Cuban encapsulate his interview with former publisher of SUCCESS magazine Darren Hardy.&nbsp; From the set of Shark Tank, Cuban talks about his successes and failures, and how he has managed to make his dreams a reality.

“I never stop learning, because your bank accounts are a reflection of what happened before—not a reflection of what’s happening now.” Those words from dynamic billionaire Mark Cuban encapsulate his interview with former publisher of SUCCESS magazine Darren Hardy.&nbsp; From the set of Shark Tank, Cuban talks about his successes and failures, and how he has managed to make his dreams a reality. | SUCCESS

Mark Cuban on Living Successfully

[Podcast] Mark Cuban on Living Successfully | [site:name]

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Optimism and pessimism are attitudes—attitudes that shape and formulate our entire existence. Because, think about it, have you ever met a happy pessimist?In short, our optimism or pessimism is…… the way we interpret the past. … the way we experience and view the present. … the way we imagine the future.And there are stark contrasts between optimism and pessimism and how they affect you:Optimism breathes life into you each day. Pessimism drains you. Optimism helps you to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/afraid-of-risks-how-to-be-bolder" target="_blank" title="Afraid of Risks? How to Be Bolder | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">take needed risks</a>. Pessimism plays it safe and never accomplishes much. Optimism improves those around you. Pessimism drags them down. Optimism inspires people to great heights. Pessimism deflates people to new lows.There is only one way that optimism and pessimism are the same, and that is that they are both self-fulfilling. If you are an optimist, you will generally find that good things happen to you. And if you are a pessimist, you will find yourself in the not-so-good situations more often than not.So <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/a-pessimist-s-guide-to-being-an-optimist" target="_blank" title="A Pessimist's Guide to Being an Optimist | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">can a person just become an optimist</a>? Yes! We can choose to look at the world any way we want to. We can choose to look at the world and think the worst, or we can tell ourselves the good things about each situation.And although there are tremendous benefits to being an optimist, there are some pessimists out there who will say, “But that isn’t realistic.” Who cares? If things go awry, at least you have spent your time beforehand enjoying life and not worrying about it. And, being an optimist, you would view the “negative” situation as an opportunity to grow and learn. So you can even look forward to your failures because they will be steppingstones and learning tools to be applied to your future success.Have you ever met a successful pessimist? Commit to being an optimist and see your world change before your eyes.<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-ways-to-amplify-the-good-life" target="_self" title="5 Ways to Amplify the Good Life | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">Want to amplify the good life? Check out 5 ways to recognize and revel in life’s happy moments.</a>

[node:summary] - Optimism and pessimism are both self-fulfilling. But the ways they affect your life are vastly different.

Optimism and pessimism are attitudes—attitudes that shape and formulate our entire existence. Because, think about it, have you ever met a happy | SUCCESS

Have You Ever Met a Successful Pessimist?

Have You Ever Met a Successful Pessimist? | SUCCESS

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<a href="https://apple.co/2e8YSd4" style="line-height: 20.8px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on iTunes" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__32259 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/get_success_podcast_on_itunes.png" style="width: 97px; height: 35px;" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://stitcher.com/s?fid=100890&amp;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on Stitcher" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34172 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/stitcher_0.jpg" style="width: 75px; height: 38px;" /></a> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/success-talks/id1159749342?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUBSCRIBE</a> on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher app so you don't miss an episode!

<div>
There is no color-by-numbers guide to leadership. It’s an art and a science, a discipline you must grow into and learn from the masters. This episode we introduce one such master: John Addison. Formerly the co-CEO of Primerica, now SUCCESS magazine leadership editor, this Georgia boy worked his way up the rungs of the multibillion-dollar financial services company and established himself as one of the greats.

This interview appears on the SUCCESS Talks Collection, available in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-august-2015-brian-chesky.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 2015 edition of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

<div>
<h3>Favorite quote:</h3>

“You need to be a uniter. You need to find the common purpose and common cause that drives people forward, and you have to be the flame that lights that cause and has the ability to reach across all lines, and have people know that you're fair, you're focused, you're working hard, and you're gonna help take them someplace that they couldn't go on their own.”

—John Addison

<h3>You might also like…</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-the-5-as-of-leading-through-adversity">Make Your Success About Shining Your Light on the People Around You, Not Yourself</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-the-5-as-of-leading-through-adversity">How Great Leaders Stay Calm</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-the-5-as-of-leading-through-adversity">The 5 A’s of Leading Through Adversity</a></li>
</ul>

&nbsp;

SUCCESS Talks, the popular audio program included every month in SUCCESS magazine, is now available as a weekly podcast. We feature fascinating interviews with prominent business, creative and thought leaders such as Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Tim Ferriss and Barbara Corcoran, and include key takeaways designed to help you put information into action.

Catch up on all individual episodes at <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/SUCCESSTalks">SUCCESS.com/SUCCESSTalks</a> or download the monthly SUCCESS Talks Collection with your magazine subscription.
</div>
</div>

There is no color-by-numbers guide to leadership. It’s an art and a science, a discipline you must grow into and learn from the masters. This episode we introduce one such master: John Addison. Formerly the co-CEO of Primerica, now SUCCESS magazine leadership editor, this Georgia boy worked his way up the rungs of the multibillion-dollar financial services company and established himself as one of the greats.

There is no color-by-numbers guide to leadership. It’s an art and a science, a discipline you must grow into and learn from the masters. This episode we introduce one such master: John Addison. Formerly the co-CEO of Primerica, now SUCCESS magazine leadership editor, this Georgia boy worked his way up the rungs of the multibillion-dollar financial services company and established himself as one of the greats. | SUCCESS

John Addison on Leading Through the Tough Times

[Podcast] John Addison on Leading Through the Tough Times | [site:name]

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How Miranda Lambert Saved Main Street with a Little Country Glitz

Miranda Lambert describes her life “like a circus tent.” On top of her music, clothing and boot lines, winery, and endorsement deals, she has two boutiques, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas—and one of her stores, plus a bed-and-breakfast, helped revitalize her adopted hometown of Tishomingo, Okla.Lambert was less busy, though, and a little lost, when she left her base of friends and family in Texas to move with <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/blake-shelton-is-firing-on-all-cylinders" target="_blank" title="Blake Shelton Is Firing on All Cylinders | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">Blake Shelton</a>. So Shelton, who grew up in nearby Ada, suggested she get involved in the community.“For a while, I was just paintin’ furniture and junkin’, and my husband encouraged me to have a little store,” Lambert says, referring to her gift boutique, <a href="https://thepinkpistol.com/" target="_blank" title="ThePinkPistol.com" rel="noopener">The Pink Pistol</a>. “I think maybe he knew that it would make me feel like I planted some roots in our new place, and it definitely did that.”<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/successmagazine/miranda-lambert/" target="_blank" title="Miranda Lambert | Pinterest.com/SUCCESSmagazine" rel="noopener"></a>When she saw an old building downtown “just wasting away,” she bought it and turned it into <a href="https://theladysmith.us/" target="_blank" title="TheLadysmith.us" rel="noopener">The Ladysmith</a> bed-and-breakfast.She scoffs at the notion she’s some sort of small-town savior, but the now-bustling downtown of Tishomingo (population 3,000, give or take), tells a different tale.Since opening The Pink Pistol (“For the Wild at Heart,” as its slogan says), and The Ladysmith, Tishomingo has become a destination for tourists. The B&amp;B recently was named one of the South’s best new hotels by Southern Living magazine.“I don’t know that I saved the town,” says Lambert with a quick laugh. “I think what happens is that when you invest, it just inspires other people to take a chance. I think about 20 new shops have opened since we did, something I didn’t realize until someone said something about it.”One person who is sure of the significant role Lambert has played is Seigel Heffington, executive director of the Johnston County Chamber of Commerce and owner of a real estate office in town. He says Lambert’s efforts have had an enormous impact on the town, which once had plenty of vacancy signs littering the main street. Now there’s hardly an inch of space to be had.“Her dream to open up a little shop turned into a vision for the town,” Heffington says. “We were struggling like most towns in rural America with lots of empty buildings. Then Miranda came in, and we started moving at light speed. People from all over the nation are driving to little bitty Tishomingo to visit The Pink Pistol and the bed-and-breakfast.”Heffington says Tishomingo is lucky to count the couple as its own. “They stay low-key and are salt-of-the-earth people. There’s no put-on with them,” he says. “They treat everybody with respect, and neither one has let being top-shelf celebrities go to their heads. They invest in the community and are just good people.”<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/miranda-lambert-on-marriage-fashion-and-why-she-insists-on-being-in-control" target="_self" title="Miranda Lambert on Marriage, Fashion and Why She Insists on Being in Control | SUCCESS.com" rel="noopener">Miranda Lambert is featured on the June 2015 cover of SUCCESS magazine. Read the full feature to find out how her Texas roots and fightin’ spirit helped her build an empire—on her own terms.</a><a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="200" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/successmagazine/miranda-lambert/"> </a>

Miranda Lambert describes her life “like a circus tent.” On top of her music, clothing and boot lines, winery, and endorsement deals, she has two

Miranda Lambert describes her life “like a circus tent.” On top of her music, clothing and boot lines, winery, and endorsement deals, she has two | SUCCESS

How Miranda Lambert Saved Main Street with a Little Country Glitz | SUCCESS

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Professional Growth

Professional Growth Archives

Professional Growth | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

<a href="https://apple.co/2e8YSd4" style="line-height: 20.8px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on iTunes" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__32259 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/get_success_podcast_on_itunes.png" style="width: 97px; height: 35px;" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="https://stitcher.com/s?fid=100890&amp;refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img alt="SUCCESS Talks podcast on Stitcher" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34172 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/stitcher_0.jpg" style="width: 75px; height: 38px;" /></a> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/success-talks/id1159749342?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUBSCRIBE</a> on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher app so you don't miss an episode!

<div>
Do you ever wish you could add more hours to the day? That you could multiply time to get more done? Rory Vaden knows exactly how you feel. As a self-discipline strategist, he’s constantly on the lookout for ways people can find extra time. He shares ideas in his new book, Procrastinate on Purpose, and sits down with Hardy to discuss his exciting findings and suggestions.

This interview appears on the SUCCESS Talks Collection, available in <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-june-2015-miranda-lambert.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the June 2015 edition of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

<div>
<h3>Favorite quote:</h3>

<div>
“Inaction that results from indulgence—that's procrastination. But inaction that results from intention—that’s patience.”
</div>

—Rory Vaden

<h3>You might also like…</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/ted-talks-inside-the-mind-of-a-master-procrastinator">6 Tips to Be a Productive Procrastinator</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/ted-talks-inside-the-mind-of-a-master-procrastinator">TED Talks: ‘Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator’</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/john-c-maxwell-5-qualities-of-people-who-use-time-wisely">5 Qualities of People Who Use Time Wisely</a></li>
</ul>

&nbsp;

SUCCESS Talks, the popular audio program included every month in SUCCESS magazine, is now available as a weekly podcast. We feature fascinating interviews with prominent business, creative and thought leaders such as Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Tim Ferriss and Barbara Corcoran, and include key takeaways designed to help you put information into action.

Catch up on all individual episodes at <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/SUCCESSTalks">SUCCESS.com/SUCCESSTalks</a> or download the monthly SUCCESS Talks Collection with your magazine subscription.
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Do you ever wish you could add more hours to the day? That you could multiply time to get more done? Rory Vaden knows exactly how you feel. As a self-discipline strategist, he’s constantly on the lookout for ways people can find extra time. He shares ideas in his new book, Procrastinate on Purpose, and sits down with Hardy to discuss his exciting findings and suggestions.

Do you ever wish you could add more hours to the day? That you could multiply time to get more done? Rory Vaden knows exactly how you feel. As a self-discipline strategist, he’s constantly on the lookout for ways people can find extra time. He shares ideas in his new book, Procrastinate on Purpose, and sits down with Hardy to discuss his exciting findings and suggestions. | SUCCESS

Rory Vaden on Procrastinating With Purpose

[Podcast] Rory Vaden on Procrastinating With Purpose | [site:name]

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A pied-à-terre in Paris. A Manhattan penthouse. A forgotten savings account with a seven-figure balance. These are the things we daydream about inheriting. But the stuff that has made <a href="https://www.strangeinheritance.com/" target="_blank" title="Strange Inheritance | StrangeInheritance.com">Strange Inheritance</a> a runaway hit for Fox Business Network&mdash;it launched in January as the highest-rated debut in the network&rsquo;s history and has already been renewed&mdash;is something else entirely.For its first season, host Jamie Colby crisscrossed the United States over eight months meeting people who had been bequeathed unusual heirlooms, like the world&rsquo;s tallest thermometer, the largest private collection of bugs, 200 rusting jalopies, a crocodile ranch or a bullet-riddled tree stump dating back to the Civil War.Colby, who describes the show as a mix of Ancestry.com and Antiques Roadshow, has found herself tearing up on more than one episode. &ldquo;Even if the inheritance is as strange as an insect collection,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;these are real families struggling with figuring out what their loved ones would want them to do. Keep it, sell it, try to carry on?&rdquo;A former entertainment lawyer whose clients included the likes of Joan Rivers, Johnny Carson and John Travolta, Colby was a reporter for local New York news stations before she became a correspondent for CNN and then went on to join Fox News Channel in 2003. Last spring she gave up her co-anchor chair on America&rsquo;s News Headquarters to host Strange Inheritance. After more than a decade covering major news stories, like the 9/11 terror attacks, the Southeast Asia tsunami and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, she was eager for the chance to share the authentic stories of everyday people.&ldquo;When you think of a reality TV show, you think of hard-to-believe staged shenanigans,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but my experience was so pure and real, heartfelt and heartwarming. You&rsquo;re watching families you would never have met otherwise, in places like Miles City, Montana, or Portales, New Mexico, going through emotional and sometimes financial upheaval, and being forthright and honest about it.&rdquo;Some of the inheritances even turn their benefactors into instant small-business owners.In this week&rsquo;s episode, 23-year-old Renee DiAugustine-Bower of Berwick, Pennsylvania (population, less than 11,000), inherits a nearly 150-year-old opera house turned movie theater from her grandfather. It&rsquo;s in ill repair, with seats that have so little cushioning people bring their own pillows to sit on. But her grandfather&rsquo;s dying words were, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let the theater close,&rdquo; so DiAugustine-Bower is determined to keep it open.When Colby asks her what she&rsquo;ll do if she can&rsquo;t make a go out of the theater, DiAugustine-Bower&rsquo;s response is unequivocal: &ldquo;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-ways-to-reframe-failure" target="_blank" title="5 Ways to Reframe Failure | SUCCESS.com">Failure isn&rsquo;t in my vocabulary</a> and it&rsquo;s just not an option.&rdquo; &nbsp;In the show, we see DiAugustine-Bower&rsquo;s difficult next few months. The reel-to-reel projector needs to be replaced with a digital one, at a cost of $70,000. The furnace breaks down. And, then, in a turn worthy of a horror movie, people begin to fall ill and pass out in the theater. The staff struggles to cope as 17 theater patrons are taken to the local hospital.Colby, whose father was one of the original Dale Carnegie speakers early in his career and who shared with his kids his belief in &ldquo;the self-made man,&rdquo; finds the stories of accidental entrepreneurs like DiAugustine-Bower refreshing. &nbsp;&ldquo;Some people are driven by money when they start a business,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;some are driven by notoriety. But Renee and the other people who inherited businesses from parents or grandparents are driven by something more meaningful: legacy. And what often starts out feeling like a burden, becomes an opportunity.&rdquo;Strange Inheritance airs Mondays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox Business Network.​<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/this-is-how-you-leave-a-legacy" target="_self" title="Rohn: This Is How You Leave a Legacy | SUCCESS.com">Do you want to continue a legacy? Commit to Jim Rohn&#39;s 9 principles necessary for making an impact, for leaving a legacy.</a>

A pied-à-terre in Paris. A Manhattan penthouse. A forgotten savings account with a seven-figure balance. These are the things we daydream about

A pied-à-terre in Paris. A Manhattan penthouse. A forgotten savings account with a seven-figure balance. These are the things we daydream about | SUCCESS

His Dying Words: Don’t Let the Theater Go

His Dying Words: Don’t Let the Theater Go | SUCCESS

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Business is anything but usual at Netflix, the company founded by Reed Hastings, SUCCESS&rsquo;s March cover personality. That includes a dramatic departure in the traditional view of employee relations.Hard work can get you sacked. Vacation time isn&rsquo;t set in silicon. Loyalty doesn&rsquo;t factor into job security.&nbsp;In an essay published last year in the Harvard Business Review, former Netflix Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord discussed the one-of-a-kind Netflix HR manifesto.&nbsp;McCord told the tale of two employees and the power of positive sacking.The first story involved an engineer who had to take up the slack when his co-workers were laid off. When he was told that a change in company fortune meant new people could be hired to help him, the engineer said not to worry. He was happier without them because he didn&rsquo;t have to ride herd on others to get the job done. McCord called this a commentary on the &ldquo;most basic element of Netflix&rsquo;s talent philosophy: The best thing you can do for employees&mdash;a perk better than foosball or free sushi&mdash;is hire only &lsquo;A&rsquo; players to work alongside them. Excellent colleagues trump everything else.&rdquo;The second story was about an original employee. As McCord wrote, &ldquo;Despite her work ethic, her track record and the fact we all really liked her, her skills were no longer adequate.&rdquo; The woman was let go, albeit with a generous severance package.&ldquo;This incident helped us create the other vital element of our talent management philosophy: If we wanted only &lsquo;A&rsquo; players on our team, we had to be willing to let go of people whose skills no longer fit, no matter how valuable their contributions had once been.&rdquo;Netflix recently released a slideshow that allows the public to look through their corporate HR constitution. You can view <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664" target="_blank" title="Netflix Culture | sildeshare.net">the entire 128 slideshow</a>, or here are a few of the high points:1. An adequate performance earns a generous severance package. 2. We&rsquo;re a team, not a family. Netflix leaders hire, develop and cut smartly. So we have stars in every position. 3. The more talent we have, the more we can accomplish. Internal cutthroat or sink-or-swim behavior is rare and not tolerated. 4. Unlimited loyalty to a shrinking firm or ineffective employee is not what we are about. 5. We don&rsquo;t measure people by how many hours they work or how often they are in the office. Sustained B-level performance, despite A for effort, generates a generous severance package. With respect. Sustained A-level performance, despite minimal effort, is rewarded with more responsibility and great pay. 6. Our model is to increase employee freedom as we grow rather than limit it. 7. Vacations: There is no policy or tracking. There is also no clothing policy at Netflix, but no one comes to work naked. Lesson: You don&rsquo;t need policies for everything. 8. Netflix policies for expensing, entertainment, gifts and travel: Act in Netflix&rsquo;s best interest. 9. One outstanding employee gets more done and costs less than two adequate employees. 10. Whether Netflix is prospering or floundering, we pay top of the market. Sports teams with losing records still pay talent the market rate to get back to winning. 11. No bonuses, no philanthropic match. Put all that expense into big salaries and give people freedom to spend their salaries as they think best. No vested or deferred compensation. 12. No ranking against other employees. 13. Netflix shouldn&rsquo;t be for life. 14. If a manager would promote to prevent an employee from leaving, the manager should promote now instead of waiting. 15. Mediocre colleagues or unchallenging work is what kills progress of a person&rsquo;s skills.<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/2014-success-achiever-of-the-year-reed-hastings" target="_self" title="2014 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year: Reed Hastings | SUCCESS.com">Reed Hastings, 2014 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year, led Netflix to acclaim and major revenue gains last year. But he&rsquo;s also consumed by another mission: improving public education. Read the cover story now.&nbsp; </a>

[node:summary] - The entertainment subscription service takes a unique approach to employee engagement in its HR manifesto.

Business is anything but usual at Netflix, the company founded by Reed Hastings, SUCCESS&rsquo;s March cover personality. That includes a dramatic | SUCCESS

Hard Work Can Get You Fired and 15 Other Rules at Netflix

Hard Work Can Get You Fired and 15 Other Rules at Netflix | SUCCESS

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If you don&rsquo;t know how to handle dissent and conflict with your team, you&rsquo;re missing out on a vital tool for innovation, problem-solving and growth. Take Jennifer and Jack , a husband and wife who owned a high-end restaurant and who turned to Robert Ferguson, executive coach and co-author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544148398/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0544148398&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=OBFGSBN5MGIYFV6Y">Making Conflict Work: Harnessing the Power of Disagreement</a>, to help them figure out what was wrong when high employee turnover threatened their hopes of expanding.Like many owners of small businesses, Jennifer and Jack were passionate about their restaurant. They were delivering fabulous food in a beautiful setting, but they couldn&rsquo;t keep employees. Without an experienced, loyal staff it would be impossible to open additional restaurants.Ferguson quickly discovered that the couple&rsquo;s passion was experienced as volatility by their staff. When an employee reported a problem, Jennifer and Jack would blow up at the employee and at each other.That was the case when a waiter told them about a pattern of customer complaints about slow service. &ldquo;I studied the business and learned that the delay in service was not due to the waiters but to the system of how orders flowed through the kitchen,&rdquo; Ferguson says. &ldquo;The different chefs who worked on different evenings didn&rsquo;t have the same system for getting the food out. This caused confusion. It was a business system problem, not an employee problem. I told the couple they were making their employees afraid to share problems or suggest improvements because they shot the messenger.&rdquo;With coaching by Ferguson, Jennifer and Jack learned how to encourage healthy conflict. And separate marriage counseling helped them become less combative with each other. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t quick or easy,&rdquo; Ferguson says. &ldquo;But over time they built a more successful business and expanded. And they became happier in their marriage, too.&rdquo;Could you be stifling the kind of constructive conflict that can help you grow your business? Here are some tactics, adapted from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544148398/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0544148398&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=OBFGSBN5MGIYFV6Y">Making Conflict Work</a> by Peter T. Coleman and Robert Ferguson, that you should be practicing:1. Do you explore your employees&rsquo; perspectives without immediate judgment? While you may eventually reject a recommendation, make sure to listen in such a way that keeps the ideas coming.2. Do you stay calm during a conflict? Realize that everyone makes mistakes. When a subordinate discloses a mistake, take care not to overreact. As a result, people may begin hiding mistakes from you.3. Do you practice and reward candor? Don&rsquo;t lie, avoid or tiptoe around issues. Make sure that your team can count on you to be straightforward at all times, including when in conflict.4. Are you approachable and accessible? While you can&rsquo;t drop everything you&rsquo;re doing the second someone wants your attention, make it relatively easy to approach you&mdash;even if it&rsquo;s something you may not agree with or want to hear.5. Do you share things about yourself? Open up about yourself to encourage the kinds of free-flowing back-and-forth and creative tension that lead to innovation. Let people get to know you personally.If you don&rsquo;t adhere to the principles outlined in this list, consider enlisting a close colleague, a mentor, a friend or a coach to help you develop your skills at managing conflict.<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/why-good-leaders-love-office-conflict" target="_self" title="Why Good Leaders Love Office Conflict | SUCCESS.com">Find out how to channel disagreement so it fuels innovation and growth with more strategies to both inspire and control healthy conflict.</a>

If you don&rsquo;t know how to handle dissent and conflict with your team, you&rsquo;re missing out on a vital tool for innovation, problem-solving and

If you don&rsquo;t know how to handle dissent and conflict with your team, you&rsquo;re missing out on a vital tool for innovation, problem-solving and | SUCCESS

Do You Cultivate or Stifle Conflict?

Do You Cultivate or Stifle Conflict? | SUCCESS

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Sophia Amoruso&rsquo;s name has become synonymous with #GIRLBOSS, the title of her new book and no-nonsense philosophy in running the clothing e-retailer she founded, Nasty Gal. But Amoruso, 30, is stepping down from her throne, <a href="https://recode.net/2015/01/12/nasty-gal-founder-sophia-amoruso-steps-down-as-ceo-of-fashion-retailer/" target="_blank" title="Nasty Gal Founder Hands Over CEO Role at Cutting-Edge Online Fashion Retailer | Recode.net">Re/code reported, and handing over her CEO crown</a> to Sheree Waterson, who&rsquo;s been serving as Nasty Gal&rsquo;s president since last year.She might not be holding the scepter anymore, but she&rsquo;s not morphing into a wallflower anytime soon, which would go against her brand&rsquo;s very essence. Amoruso will stay on as executive chairman, leading the company&rsquo;s creative and brand marketing teams.<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/dominating-business-like-a-girlboss" target="_blank" title="Dominating Business Like a #GIRLBOSS | SUCCESS.com">As SUCCESS wrote in an October 2014 feature</a>, Amoruso has appeared on rising-stars lists like Fortune&rsquo;s 40 Under 40 and Inc.&rsquo;s 30 under 30 for being the original Nasty Gal and growing &ldquo;an empire on trial and error, with her own self-confidence (not to mention blood, sweat and tears) making up for a lack of outside assistance.&rdquo; So why would she let go of that control, that power? Because &ldquo;what got you here can&rsquo;t get you there,&rdquo; she told Re/code.&ldquo;As you know, part of being a #GIRLBOSS (and just a decent human being) is about playing to your strengths,&rdquo; <a href="https://blog.nastygal.com/from-the-desk-of-sophia-amoruso/2015/01/62184/" target="_blank" title="From the Desk of Sophia Amoruso | blog.NastyGal.com">Amoruso wrote on the Nasty Gal blog</a>. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been wondering for a while now if the CEO role is one that I want&mdash;and the one that I&rsquo;m best at&hellip;. My entire youth has been Nasty Gal. My entire future is Nasty Gal. This is a choice that will give our team, and our business, legs.&rdquo;Amoruso told Re/code that the decision was hers alone, something she wanted to do&mdash;and, as Nasty Gal&rsquo;s profitability has begun to veer off the fast track, something that will help keep Nasty Gal secure in its impressive position as an online retail powerhouse, one that&rsquo;s always moving to the next level.&ldquo;I actually see myself as support to Sophia so we can unleash her genius,&rdquo; Waterson told Re/code. &ldquo;Taking over the operation of the company allows Sophia to be out and connecting the brand with our customer and all the other amazing people she meets.&rdquo;&ldquo;What creates opportunities is trying new things and not being afraid of taking smart risks,&rdquo; Amoruso said in her interview with SUCCESS. &ldquo;But sometimes things just aren&rsquo;t meant to be. Being OK with changing direction when something really isn&rsquo;t working, I think, is important.&rdquo;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/dominating-business-like-a-girlboss" target="_self" title="Dominating Business Like a #GIRLBOSS | SUCCESS.com">Read the full SUCCESS feature on Sophia Amoruso and how she grew from a solopreneur into a #GIRLBOSS.&nbsp; </a>

[node:summary] - The #GIRLBOSS makes the bold decision to step down.

Sophia Amoruso&rsquo;s name has become synonymous with #GIRLBOSS, the title of her new book and no-nonsense philosophy in running the clothing e-retailer | SUCCESS

Nasty Gal’s Sophia Amoruso Gives Up Her Title as CEO

Nasty Gal’s Sophia Amoruso Gives Up Her Title as CEO | SUCCESS

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No doubt, entrepreneurship requires a whole lot of mental energy. With its highs and lows, excitement and fear—which you may feel all at once—there are times when time feels too short and failure seems to be lurking close by.

These feelings might not be fun, but they’re normal. After all, choosing entrepreneurship means you are choosing risk, acknowledging that the chance for failure is alive and well.
Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/how-i-quit-my-job-traveled-the-world-and-became-an-entrepreneur-all-before-i-turned-25" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">How I Quit My Job, Traveled the World and Became an Entrepreneur-All Before I Turned 25</a>
Whether you are contemplating making your side business a full-time thing, or you’re already in the throes of day-to-day small-business life, read this and remember you’re far from alone. Here are 5 of the most common psychological challenges you’ll find yourself battling as an entrepreneur.
<h2>1. Defining yourself:</h2>
When you get a job, your employer has a job description that describes what you need to do. When you become an entrepreneur, however, you have to decide for yourself who you want to be. Why are you starting this business? What are your primary responsibilities? These questions can cause a lot of pressure.
<h2>2. Operating under little guidance:</h2>
Becoming an entrepreneur means starting with a totally blank slate. The business begins and ends with you. While that can sound pretty awesome, it also means you have little guidance—you have to create the map, the directions to get there and the destination where you’ll arrive. It’s easy for doubt to creep in. Be confident in your decisions and be okay with operating alone and carrying the weight of those decisions.
<h2>3. Intense feelings, all at once:</h2>
<a title="Doubtbusters: Erase Self-Limiting Beliefs | SUCCESS.com" href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/doubtbusters-erase-self-limiting-beliefs" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">Doubt</a>, passion, confusion and fear are common—inside and outside entrepreneurship. But those emotions happen all at once—at great intensity— for entrepreneurs.&nbsp;With the lack of guidance and stress that come with running a business, it’s next to impossible to avoid these feelings.
<h2>4. Stress management: </h2>
Never kid yourself into thinking that entrepreneurship is easy. The pressure can be overwhelming, and until you learn how to <a title="11 Strategies for Managing Stress | SUCCESS.com" href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/11-strategies-for-managing-stress" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">manage and control the resulting anxiety</a>, you just have to prepare for the gut-wrenching feelings coming your way in the early stages. Say your phone rings on the weekend or after hours. It probably means trouble, but you can’t ignore it—nausea or not. You’re in charge, so take a breath, answer the call and deal with the situation.
<h2>5. Financial strain: </h2>
When things go south, the first thing affected is cash flow, the lifeblood of any company. When finances are stretched to their breaking point, when that flow is cut off, you and your company are in big trouble. The subsequent chain reaction can be devastating to everyone involved in the venture, including your family.

Why then, if entrepreneurship is challenging in so many ways, do people keep becoming entrepreneurs?

Easy. It’s <a title="The Passion Test for Success: What's Your Passion? | SUCCESS.com" href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/the-passion-test-for-success-whats-your-passion" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">passion</a>.

With passion, we aren’t boggled down by fear and self-doubt. It’s a powerful feeling that reveals our greater purpose in life.

So if you find yourself overwhelmed by the psychological challenges of entrepreneurship, remember that they’re all part of the journey—the destination you wanted and needed to go on. Building something out of nothing is not simple, which is why it’s commendable that you’ve chosen this path. It’ll get better, the challenges growing less intimidating and more controllable, if you just keep going.
Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/john-c-maxwell-do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-be-an-entrepreneur" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">John C. Maxwell: Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?</a>

No doubt, entrepreneurship requires a whole lot of mental energy. With its highs and lows, excitement and fear—which you may feel all at once—there are

No doubt, entrepreneurship requires a whole lot of mental energy. With its highs and lows, excitement and fear—which you may feel all at once—there are | SUCCESS

The 5 Emotional Challenges You’ll Face as an Entrepreneur

The 5 Emotional Challenges You’ll Face as an Entrepreneur | SUCCESS

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