Cheers to Improving Yourself!

 

"Even the most talented leaders are constantly

striving to do better."

 

More now than ever, I have been intentional about improving myself in order to be the best person I can be in all areas of my life and that includes my business.  This may be a result of my Type-A personality, but I believe that if we are healthy physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, then we will be positioned to succeed in ways that would otherwise be hindered by these areas of our lives that need improving.



Yesterday I spent the better part of my afternoon evaluating my goals.  I made sure that my goals included every area of my life that I wanted to improve (Another post coming shortly about setting goals).  So, what follows goal setting?  Accountability!  Maybe some of you can breeze right through your goals without any form of accountability.  Without accountability, I just fail...and miserably.  I am driven and motivated, but I set some pretty large goals that scare the crap out of me sometimes (Thank you Eleanor) and without the accountability, those goals can be debilitating. 

 

"Do one thing every day that scares you." -- Eleanor Roosevelt





 

What have you done lately to improve yourself?  Do you set goals that make you uncomfortable and scare you?  You should.  Is goal setting an area of your life that is intentional?  If it isn't, it should be.  Without a vision, the people parish.  I believe this wholeheartedly...and I'm not the only one.  Here are some really fantastic quotes from Inc. Magazine about self improvement.  So, cheers to improving yourself.  Let's do it together.  I will follow up with some of my own goals and I hope you will also share some of yours.

 

I hope these quotes inspire you, because we all need a little inspiration!

 

"We can each define ambition and progress for ourselves. The goal is to work towards a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests. --Sheryl Sandberg

 

"Sometimes it's the people you can't help who inspire you the most." --Melinda Gates

 

"Work harder than everybody.  You're not going to get it by whining, and you're not going to get it by shouting, and you're not going to get it by quitting.  You're going to get it by being there." --Barbara Walters

 

"If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude." --Maya Angelou 

 

"I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others int he form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you." --Oprah Winfrey
 

"Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn form our mistakes.  To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life." --Angelina Jolie

 

"We all need people who will give us feedback.  That's how we improve." --Bill Gates

 

"When I had challenges, it taught me to be more on top of it for the future.  Things go wrong all the time when you're running your own business, but it's how you perceive it and deal with it that matters." --Lori Greiner

 

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." --Eleanor Roosevelt

 

"It's not about money or connections - it's the willingness to out work and outlearn everyone...And if it fails, you learn from what happened and do a better job next time." --Mark Cuban

 

"Don't you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct." --Barbara Corcoran

 

"I always did something I was a little not ready to do.  I think that's how you grow.  When there's that moment of 'Wow, I'm not really sure I can do this,' and you push through those moment's that's when you have a breakthrough." --Marissa Mayer

 

"We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes - understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, its part of success." --Arianna Huffington

 

"Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination." --Diane Sawyer

 

Here is a list of books to help you improve as a leader and an Entrepreneur:

1.      Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever by David Henemeier Hansson and Jason Fried

2.      8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs by Robert T. Kiyosaki

3.     Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

4.     Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek

5.     The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

6.     Ask by Ryan Levesque

7.     Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

8.     Welcome to the Funnel: Proven Tactics to Turn Your Social Media and Content Marketing up to 11 by Jason Miller

9.     Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses Into Results by Cy Wakeman

10.  Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

11.  The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It Takes a Village

 (photo credit: Bloomberg.com)

“One of the metaphors that I use for start-ups is you throw yourself off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.”  Reid Hoffman You can’t expect to assemble the plane alone; that’s where good mentors can help says Rob Ebrahimi in his article Why Entrepreneurs Need Good Mentors. 

The Entrepreneurial path is lonely enough, why go it alone?  Having a mentor is invaluable.  I have recently been reflecting on my mentors.  I would not be where I am today without the guidance of a few mentor’s in my life.  I believe having a mentor is imperative to the growth of an individual as well as the success of one’s career.  Rob Ebrahimi says it well:

"As an aspiring company-builder, you always find yourself in situations where you “don’t know what you don’t know” but you have to stay in motion and make decisions regardless.  Without a savvy guide, in the form of a mentor, you may wind up making crucial early mistakes that would have otherwise been avoidable.  The smaller your company, the faster you need to move, often without enough information to make perfect choices.” 

Let's hear from some experts who speak so eloquently on the topic.  Check out these great articles on the topic of mentors:

Why Entrepreneurs Need Good Mentors – Rob Ebrahimi 

How to get a mentor who’ll transform your life. – Angela Priestly 

Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon – Adam Toren 

Inspiring Women Series - #2 Katie Davis

Meet the young woman who traveled to Uganda at 18 years old and ended up building a legacy.  

What started as a one-year trip to Uganda eventually led Katie Davis to single motherhood and a passion for the people of Uganda that would change her life forever.   In December of 2006, 18-year-old Katie Davis from Brentwood, Tennessee, traveled to Uganda for the first time. She was immediately captivated with the people and the culture.

Katie always had a servant’s heart, so it should have been no surprise when she announced on her 16^th birthday that she wanted to spend a year doing missions work before she went to college, but her parents were shocked at her desire to go to Africa.  “As most parents do, both my mom and my dad wanted to do everything they could to guarantee me a successful, comfortable life, and they felt the best way to secure a ‘good’ future for me was to provide me with a college education that would prepare me for a career, “ Katie says.

After finishing high school, Katie convinced her parents to let her spend a year in Uganda – as long as she promised to return home to attend college.  That was 2007.  In 2008, after spending a year teaching children at a Uganda orphanage, Katie founded Amazima Ministries, an organization whose main purpose is child sponsorship. 

Hundreds of children are now able to go to school and have the medical supplies they need to thrive because of Amazima’s financial support.  It didn’t take long for Katie to fall in love with the children she helped on a daily basis.  She did not initially plan on adopting 13 children, but she followed her calling and confirmed she should love them and give them a home as her very own.   Nine years and 13 daughters later, Katie is more in love with Uganda than when she first arrived.

In an interview in 2011, Katie said, “When people come into my story from this side of things, they might say, “Oh, this girl has this organization and all of these children – either she’s totally crazy or she’s gotta be incredible. ‘I’m neither, but the story started with one open door of going to this third-world country.  I said yes, and then God placed needs in front of me, and I tried to meet them in the best way I could.”’

There simply are not enough hours in the day to write about all that Katie has accomplished in Uganda or the extraordinary way she choose a path less traveled, going against everything her parents had prepared for her to have a “successful” life.  I encourage you to read her book, Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption.  What a humbling story.  I encourage each of you to find your passion, if you don’t already know what it is, and go after it!  #likeaboss

You’re amazing, Katie Davis, we are so inspired by you!  

 Learn more about Amazima here.