Five Things You Should Know About Marketing to Millennials

Here are five things you need to know about marketing to millennials:

We Are Confident

As the children of Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers, we millennials spent our formative years being patted on the back and praised for just about everything we did. You colored inside the lines? That’s great. You want to play all the sports? Awesome. You burped? Bravo!

This is because our parents were the products of darker times, and hyper aware of all the ways in which our childhoods could go wrong. In our school and home environments, the adults in our lives made sure we were set up for success.

In this way, millennials respond well to getting our ego stroked. Remember that our self-worth is high, so we don’t necessarily need brands or brand messages to feed us that extra boost. We also like to hear messages that add value to our lives. Help us, and we will help you by supporting your business.

It’s like Demi Lovato, international pop star and fellow millennial says, “What’s wrong with being confident?”

We Are Optimistic

Doom and gloom is not the M.O. of the average millennial. And September 11^th, one of the darkest events of the last half century, is ironically what cemented our sense of optimism.

Losing our sense of security not just as a nation but as a generation created a juxtaposition between the new world order and how it had been before. Or, as optimistic millennials decided, how it could be again. Millennials have largely been fighting to regain that sense of security ever since and believe that in fact we can get there.

As marketers, there’s an opportunity to feed this optimism. In keeping with the “help me help you” sense of confidence I mentioned earlier, help millennials make the world better, and your messages will not only resonate, but become action.

We Are Creative

Jamie’s creativity point—which also stems from a strong confidence base—really stuck with me. Our parents told us that if we did well in school and went to college, we would get jobs, and everything would be champagne wishes and caviar dreams (ok, small exaggeration, but you get the idea).

But then the economy tanked, and millennials collectively had a quarter life crisis: Why don’t I have a job? Why am I not happy? Why hasn’t anyone given me my own reality show? The transition to adulthood was rough—and no one gave us a heads up!

Luckily, we’re a resilient bunch. When I was 23, I looked around at my group of close friends from college and realized that all but one of us had changed career paths within two years of graduating. We were nimble, we were creative, and while none of my friends were the founders of Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, or any other new-age service company, it was our millennial peers who created the sharing economy. How’s that for creativity? “Oh, the classic economy isn’t giving us what we need? Let’s shake it up.”

It’s the millennial generation that has helped to reshape the American Dream into something that involves a creative idea, some seed funding, and an IPO. While this paradigm is likely to shift again soon (i.e. if and when the startup bubble bursts—and history tells us it will burst), marketing messages that speak to this creativity, this one-size-does-not-fit-all approach, is crucial in reaching this audience.

The key is about keeping the message personal, and with today’s technology, you have the capability to tailor messages in a way that speaks to this generation.

We Are More Than Our Devices

And speaking of technology, something I love about my generation is that while we are technology experts, we are not technology dependents. We can still remember a time when there was no wifi, not everyone owned a cellphone, when computers were slow, and when the whole world didn’t speak in hashtags. I like to refer to this time as B.E.–Before Emoji.

Perhaps the best way to illustrate what sets us apart is to delve a little deeper into our Gen Z successors. These kids were essentially born with an iPad in their hand. They have PayPal accounts instead of credit cards. They make purchases via their phones. They know their credit score at age 17.

This is the stuff my nightmares are made of.

Taking this point of reference into account, there’s a nuance in the way we should be spoken to. We see value in “unplugging” and in the balance between online and offline interaction. There needs to be a full, omni-channel approach to how we’re marketed to, because we move between our online and offline worlds seamlessly.

 This incriminating photo (of me) shows that while millennials may not have been born with iPads in their hands, some were given access to 80s-era desktop computers at a very early age.

We Are Going to Have Babies

To close, I’m going to share my own personal theory with you, marketer to marketer. As more and more millennials start families, I predict that there will be a shift in the way in which our Gen Z (or whatever generation comes after Gen Z…do we start at A again?) kids approach technology. This is because millennials remember what it’s like to play outside—without technology. We remember what it’s like to read a book—without technology. And we remember what it’s like to be bored—without technology.

The adage of our grandparents may have been that they had to walk to school eight miles in three-feet of snow and it was uphill both ways. We will tell our kids—and our kids’ kids—how our parents sent us out in the yard with nothing to play with but a flat tennis ball and our imagination.

The ability to take something—anything—and transform it into something incredible—isn’t that what marketing is all about?

Source : http://bit.ly/20r2nu3

Social media key tool for B2B firms

Social media marketing offers business-to-business marketers many benefits

Many business-to-business chief executives still believe that social media isn’t right for them. And it’s no surprise.

The attention being paid to social media today mostly focuses on reaching out to consumers. But social media marketing can offer business-to-business (B2B) marketers a range of benefits if they take advantage of it, from increasing engagement and influencing decision making before the sales call to customising sales messages and enhancing their company’s reputation.

The Content Marketing Institute reports that social media marketing can help business-to-business brands build awareness and showcase their expertise. McKinsey points out that social media is a great place for business-to-business marketers to uncover early intelligence on competitor developments and on customer problems, needs and beliefs. They can also respond to questions and influence the emotional reaction to their brand.

In addition, the number of people likely to seek and share a business-to-business experience is increasing. In a Demand Gen Reports survey, almost all respondents (97 per cent) gave more credence to content that included peer reviews and user-generated content during the business-to-business purchasing decision process – higher than what was found for business-to-consumer products.

Most importantly, business-to-business companies are proving that social media builds sales and profits for brands. For example, Maersk Line, one of the world’s biggest container and bulk shipping companies, has made social media an integral part of its marketing mix by leveraging more than 30 local and global social media accounts. The company uses everything fromFacebook and LinkedIn to Twitter and Instagram, where, interestingly, it got a sales lead from a Russian company off one of its posts.

Business-to-business companies need to take this to heart. Instead of ignoring social efforts, they need to engage. Here are a few steps to get started:

1 Sell in by connecting the benefits of social media marketing to the concerns and objectives of your organisation. Since senior management tends to discount the value of social media marketing, stay away from using terms like “followers” and “engagement”. Rather, show how social media will help the organisation achieve objectives such as generating leads and facilitating conversions.

2 Identify your key audience and goals to achieve. What do you want your social media programme to do? Identify who you should reach and what your aims are. It’s important to note that the social media channels and the content that’s consumed and shared will be very different in the business-to-business world, so assumptions should not be drawn from business-to-consumer case studies.

To ensure success, find out where current and potential customers are talking and what subjects they are discussing before creating strategies to influence brand perceptions and identify sales leads.

3 Don’t rush out with a sales pitch. Business-to-business brands need to concentrate on engaging core audiences and providing valuable information. When the time is right, and with enough cultivation, the sales will happen.

4 Determine analytics and how best to track them. Rather than merely adopting the typical key performance indicators and tracking tools for business-to-consumer brands, business-to-business marketers need to find the most appropriate metrics for the unique category. In developing metrics, remember that influencing a business-to-business purchase with social content is much more valuable than a business-to-consumer purchase, since a single purchase could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Source : http://bit.ly/23c5KqS

How to Perform Instagram Social Media Marketing?

Do you use Instagram to sell your products? How is it? Does it work in helping you increase your sales? If not, you might want to take at these ways on how to carry out Instagram social media marketing

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One of the first things you should remember when selling your products on Instagram is to make your images and descriptions stand out. And do not forget about making it easier for your customers to purchase your products.

Signature Look

It is easy to post photos on Instagram. True. But posting the right product is the key to increasing your Instagram sales. That said, you should know how you position your products to your business page on IG.

• Make sure that you know the aesthetic aspect of your brand and stick to it.
• Once you have photos of your products that you want to showcase on your IG account, you should consider using the internal filters of the app. This will make the photos appear sharper and clearer.
• However, sometimes, there are no filters that can work best when you want to display your true products.

Or you may want to try the Instagram layout app. It lets you combine different images in one single image. This will help you show your product in various angles.

And do not forget to show close-up shots of your products or hire a model to wear them, if it applies.

Use descriptions with something extra

Descriptions will attract the attention of your target market and tickle the interest of your customers.

But how can you make your descriptions more interesting?

• Adding a few emojis that are relevant to your post can be a great idea. This is especially useful in an emoji-obsessed group of people.

Promote it with hashtags

Hashtags are great at helping your products be discovered on Instagram. What you can do now is to use the search and explore feature of the app to find the top hashtags for your industry. Then, use up to five of them when selling products on IG.

Although you can freely use those top hashtags in your Instagram social media marketing campaign, make sure that you also create and use your own hashtag for your brand.

Make it easier for them to purchase

Converting your fans or followers into actual buyers will be a lot easier if you use a selling tool on Instagram. Make sure that you include a “shoppable” link to your bio.

When your followers click on that link, they are taken to a page where they can easily purchase your products.

Then, do not forget to import your products from your website’s database into IG so you can analyze the kind of products that are converting highly.

Reach out to influencers

To improve your brand awareness, you should partner with some influencers on Instagram. But make sure they are influencers within your industry. Figure out which of your products are in line with the influencer’s voice.

Then, do not forget to encourage your visitors or subscribers to also follow you on Instagram.

Source : http://bit.ly/1RudQpy

5 Lessons Young Entrepreneurs Mostly Learn the Hard Way

Starting a business is hard, and the difficulties often are compounded when you’re a young person beginning the entrepreneurial journey. There are many moving parts and resources you need but may not have access to.

Here is some advice I wish I would have known as a young entrepreneur.

1. You don’t know everything.

Young people, in general, struggle with a know-it-all complex. We may hear advice but too quickly dismiss it because we think we know what we should be doing. This can be a huge mistake.

Not all advice is beneficial, but wisdom from those that have gone before us is invaluable. No one can go back in time but learning from other entrepreneur’s mistakes is one way for us to avoid potential roadblocks. Be willing to at least listen and see if the advice can be beneficial for your business.

2. Don’t waste money on material possessions.

It feels good to own nice things. There’s nothing wrong with a nice place to live or a cool car, but material possessions will come and go. You can’t take them with you when you die. Eventually, they will bore you.

Entrepreneurship offers you benefits that extend far beyond the material. The chance to live a life of freedom and make an impact in people’s lives is priceless. The chance to live a life free of financial stress and to see the world is worth more than what you drive. Save your money and spend it on the things that you’ll look back on later in life and smile about. Choose experience over stuff.

3. Filter who you let in your life.

Who you allow in your life will either help or hurt what you’re trying to create. Negative people will feed into your doubt, fear, and self-limiting beliefs. Starting a business is hard enough without someone looking over your shoulder and pointing out what they think is “realistic.” Surround yourself with people who will lift you up and be the support you need to push through failure.

4. Stay humble.

Success can be something that encourages you to keep going, or it can go to your head. Having people share what you do and send you emails saying how great you are can easily make you think you’re bigger than you actually are. People connect with an entrepreneur they know, like, and trust. When you go around bragging about how great you are or how much money you’ve made, you will repel people.

5. Embrace what makes you unique.

Many young entrepreneurs waste time trying to be like someone they look up to. They conclude the key to their success is copying another successful entrepreneur. It’s not. When someone wants to do business, they will hire or buy from the original, not the clone.

People want to connect with you. They want to hear what you have to say and see how you can make a difference in their life. Embrace what makes you an entrepreneur. Dig deep and be honest. Just because a strategy or tactic worked for someone else rarely assures it will work for you.

Being an entrepreneur is hard, but it’s worth the struggle. You get the opportunity to live life on your terms and spend your time doing what is important to you. To get to that place of freedom, absorb these lessons from someone who’s been there.

 Your future is bright and full of opportunities that didn’t exist before social media and the Internet. Take full advantage by spending time each day learning what you don’t know.

Source : http://entm.ag/1LuQTeR

3 Content Marketing Mistakes You’re Making

Let’s take a look at 3 mistakes and the steps for corrective action:

 3 Ways To Do It Right

Content that pitches, rather than empowers.

According to Sirius Decisions, the primary reason content goes unused is that it lacks relevance. Research conducted by The EIU found that 75% of executive buyers want content that speaks to a business idea; only 16% were interested in content that supports a purchase decision. But what marketers know best are their company’s products. So that’s what gets written about. With the percentage of content created that goes unused escalating as high as 70% or more, depending on the research you read, can marketers really afford to create content that delivers absolutely no value to the company? Just say NO.

Corrective Action:

To pivot away from product-centric content toward buyer-centric content, create activepersonas that inform your content marketing strategy by helping your content to become highly relevant and engaging to your target markets. Research from ITSMAfound that 85% of marketers rank their top priority for 2016 as understanding buyers. Why are we waiting?

However, when you do decide to create personas, it’s very important to do external research, including interviewing customers, buyers and those who chose a competitor. In The Power and Potential of Personas [PDF], a survey conducted by B2P partners found that 72% of personas rated ineffective by marketers were merely based on existing data and assumptions. What you need are new insights that help you speak your buyer’s language as related to problems that need solving or opportunities they can pursue to reach successful outcomes with your help.

One-off campaigns that stop momentum in its tracks.

B2B marketers have long relied on a campaign structure for their marketing programs. However, campaigns that stop and start don’t answer your buyers’ needs across the entirety of the buying process. A campaign designed with several touches followed by a sales offer is not effective now that buyers can research and learn about how to solve their problems with a wealth of self-serve content at their fingertips.

Every time one campaign stops, there is “dead air” time that leaves the buyers you’ve managed to engage in the lurch. When a new campaign and theme is launched, it’s the equivalent of saying, “Well, we’re tired of that subject, so here’s a new one we’d like to talk about.”(Notice where the focus is.) When this happens, you give your buyers the opportunity to decide you’re no longer relevant to them, prompting them to go look for someone who is. And that’s not a wise choice.

Corrective Action:

To create the engagement and momentum needed to move buyers from interest to prioritizing change and making a purchase decision, marketers need to develop content marketing strategies that serialize the problem-to-solution story across the entirety of the buying process—end to end.  By addressing the needs and context of the buyer at each stage, your expertise and educational content will help them take next steps and view your company as the “mentor” that can help them reach the outcome they value.

Not helping salespeople to use your content effectively.

In the new book, The Challenger Customer, research conducted by CEB finds that buyers are 57% of the way through their buying process before they reach out to vendors. Other research comes in even higher. This has put the onus on marketers to take responsibility for even more of the buying process than ever before. But the sticky point is that the CEB also found that buying committees reach the height of conflict at 37% of the way through the buying process—meaning they may never make it to the point of vendor outreach.

Research conducted by Richardson several years ago found that salespeople actually do read the content marketing produces, but that they have no idea how to transfer value to the customer. In other words, they don’t understand how to use it, or how to find what they need quickly for a specific buyer’s situation. Let’s face it, as more content is developed, marketers need to think beyond what content to create and how to distribute it externally to how to get it into a salesperson’s hand at the right time and in the right circumstances. Sound familiar? It’s the goal we have for engaging our buyers, so why not apply it to empowering our salespeople?

Corrective Action:

Create a process that helps salespeople find and use the content you create effectively in prospecting and conversations with buyers. This includes tagging content for persona, industry, buying stage, topic, problem, and more. But it is also aided with what I call CliffsNotes for sales. In Digital Relevance, I explain the concept as, “a one-sheet that helps sales quickly understand [the content’s] purpose and how they can use it conversationally, as well as which related content may serve as a relevant follow-up offer to extend the conversation and elevate the prospect’s intent.”

By helping your salespeople to use marketing content more effectively, you’ll also be helping them get into buyers’ conversations earlier, helping to mitigate that conflict that could keep them moving forward to solve the problem with your help.

Correcting these three mistakes with your content marketing will help you achieve the effectiveness and performance goals that have been elusive in the past.

Source : http://bit.ly/1Nr39nm

9 daily habits for personal leadership and top performance

All leadership starts from within. You can only truly lead others when you can truly lead yourself.

Running a creative business is tough. The constant roller-coaster of emotional ups-and-downs presenting anything from, anthemic highs when your team out perform your wildest expectations, to crushing lows when you realise that the root cause of every problem you face, may, just be your fault. 

Dramatic? Maybe, but agency owner/operators invest themselves fully, unquestionably and unreservedly in pursuit of their vision. We wake up each morning committed to progress and growth adopting ever changing roles to support ourselves and our team to get there. Motivating, leading, inspiring, advising, mentoring, supporting, teaching, coaching, learning…. 

Actually, the truth is, we also wake up each morning with doubt, questions, reservations and terrified of the unknown. In short it’s not only personally challenging but exhausting.

However, this is not an article on the challenges of leadership and the running of a successful business, this is an article on successfully running oneself.

All leadership starts within. You can only truly lead others when you can truly lead yourself.

Whatever your vision, when you choose to become a leader you also need to make a conscious choice to focus on your own personal development and wellbeing. Perhaps even more so than you already do. You may feel your first priority is to focus on squeezing more work into your already hectic schedule, finding ways to work harder or longer. However this approach creates a personal false economy as you drive your own wellbeing and consequently your effectiveness into the ground. 

The best leaders are more tactical, they prepare for ongoing challenges through their daily habits, they know when to work hard but always leave fuel in the tank for unforeseen challenges and to support others. 

Simply put, an increased focus on your own wellbeing and personal development will not only prepare you for greater success but to better overcome problems and thrive in challenging times.

Below are introductions to 9 core daily habits focused on personal leadership and growth. It’s by no means an exhaustive list but whatever stage you are at in your life or career I hope you find something here that helps you stay strong and work to your full potential. 

1. Choose a minimal lifestyle 

We live in a world constantly fighting for your attention, presenting you with an ever evolving set of choices to consider throughout the day.

Constantly considering options depletes your mental capacity, creates decision fatigue and costs attention that then can’t be spent on action. Resulting in less or no productivity, less or no appreciation and can add to a growing sense of overwhelm and stress. By deliberately limiting your options you can streamline daily activities you may currently over thinking, minimise distractions, reduce stress and create more space for creative problem solving and output. Things become much simpler and your days far more enjoyable. 

A simple example of this would be your morning routine. I’m a morning person so personally I like to wake up and hit the ground running. To automate my mornings I typically stick to the same routine and limit my options. I choose to not watch tv, read the newspaper, listen to the radio or scan social media and ideally leave checking my email till at least 9am (I wake at 6). I maintain a limited wardrobe so I don’t trip myself up into an endless loop of decision making about what to wear and I typically eat one of 3 breakfasts which I can make without too much thought. All of this allows me to protect my morning focus. 

Considering your attention and focus a precious resource the choice minimal lifestyle is a useful tool to create boundaries to protect it throughout your day. You have a choice to take control of what influences you and commands your attention. 

Less choice = space for greater attention and focus = higher quality output = greater satisfaction. 

2. Unplug

Neatly following on from considering a choice minimal lifestyle is the need to unplug from the endless distraction of digital fixes, be it social media, email or app notifications. It’s widely accepted now that our constant digital connection is fostering addictive behaviour with our devices. Constantly searching for that little hit of adrenaline, that positive reinforcement that comes with our virtual connections, likes, comments, favourites, mentions, replies... 

We all have limited cognitive capacity. That is to say our attention is not a renewable resource. You can not simply keep feeding your mind and expect it to perform well when you choose. Constant connection leads to constant context switching and digital overload distracting you from important daily tasks and effectively eliminating all focus and productivity. This has a cost not only to your focus and energy but also your business and your life. 

FOMO (fear of missing out) will crush you every time. When you’re constantly checking in or responding not only are you not present in that moment, you are not focusing on your own life’s purpose or work.

Take control by setting boundaries and choose when to interact online based on your personal agenda, not the agenda of others. Simply turning off all notifications is a big help, or better still remove social media apps from your mobile altogether (scary)! I’ve recently been building habits to distance myself from my phone as much as possible, meetings, meals, bed time, weekends and importantly anytime I spend with my children. The sense of freedom and space is a wonderful thing. 

3. Results driven - no complaining

Negative behaviour, complaining, moaning and past-tense deliberation are all traps that only sever to suck up your precious attention, emotional reserves and kill progress. Negativity can spread quickly, has a lingering effect on your mental state and will quickly transfer to those around you. 

As a leader your number one priority should be to spearhead the support effort of every member of your team in pursuit of your shared vision and ambitions. You have a responsibility to stand tall in the face of challenges and lead by example with a positive, objective, results driven outlook. 

Don’t take this lightly, it will make or break your efforts and that of your team.

Condition your present state awareness to notice negative behaviour in yourself and others and work hard eliminate it. Re-enforce positive behaviour and problem solving focused on actions that drives results. 

Nobody likes spending time with a killjoy, least of all yourself, it’s exhausting, unprofessional, ineffective and a complete waste of time.

4. Focus on your wellbeing

This is one of the most basic and fundamental habits you should nurture daily. A serious and dedicated focus on your general wellbeing and health is essential to, well... life! If you don’t care about your health, every other aspect of your life will suffer and the damage will compound over time. Here are few fundamentals to consider. 

Regular exercise.

The benefits or regular exercise reach far beyond the physical. With every completed workout you will feel a sense of satisfaction and personal achievement that will boost your self confidence which in turn will push you to achieve more. You will not only be healthier but more optimistic, confident, satisfied - happier! 

Another benefit is the mental space and clarity of absolute focus on the task in hand. Exercise can be a means of escape from daily pressures, or, to think of it a better way, a means to find some mental peace through forced focus. While your conscious mind is focused on the workout your unconscious mind will have space, space that can be filled with insight or problem solving so valuable to progression ultimately making you more productive. 

There is a staggering amount of bad advice out there regarding exercise which can be overwhelming. So to keep it simple, if you’re moving, it’s good, aim for 30 mins per day. Variety is key and find something that covers the basics, focusing on core functional movement and mobility first, followed by strength, endurance and speed.

Eat clean, eat well.

Many people eat badly, very badly. We’ve become lazy in our food choices at the cost of convenience, allowing others to make food and nutritional choices for us. Consequently it’s sometimes hard to distinguish food from product in our modern society as cheap to produce, highly processed, high profit foods are pushed to the fore in stores. 

But it’s actually quite simple - Naturally we all know the basics of what good nutritional food is, you just need to take deliberate steps towards building good daily eating habits. Here are some basics: 

Every meal should contain a balanced amount of high quality protein, carbs and vegetables or fruits. Shop local and stick to seasonal produce where possible always aiming to get your ingredients fresh and unprocessed. Avoid highly processed foods, sweets, sugar, fast food, instant meals. Finally, develop a habit of preparing your own food with high quality, fresh ingredients. This act alone will not only increase the quality of your food intake but teach you about food and your body’s nutritional needs in the process. 

Take responsibility, educate yourself about food and nutrition. You’ll be amazed how much the basics of good nutritional intake can profoundly affect your day-to-day wellbeing and consequently your ability to perform as an effective leader.   

Drink Water, lots of water.

Most people are unknowingly, chronically undersupplied with water resulting in one of the most common reasons for fatigue during the day. Every chemical reaction within the body needs sufficient water, without it your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, nerves and muscles cannot work properly. Simply put, It is an essential medium for literally all functions of the body. 

We lose at least 2.5 litres of water daily just through respiration, sweat and exertion which is why guidelines exist to drink two to three litres (0.5 to 0.75 US gallons) per day. However if you are exercising regularly, and you should be (see above), you will need to drink more. A good guideline is to drink 50ml (1.7 fl oz) per kilogram body weight. This may produce a daunting number, for example my daily intake is 4 litres, however the benefits both mentally and physically are undeniable. 

And just clarify, this means pure water – no alcoholic, caffeinated or sugary drinks. 

Prioritise sleep, rest well, rise early.

Sleep equals recovery, mentally and physically. It’s essential to your health, daily performance and productivity.

Good quality sleep will keep you happy and upbeat. You’ll increase your ability to think clearly, manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure. During sleep the body also releases growth hormones aiding muscle growth and fat burning essential to physical recovery from regular exercise. Not only that, people who get enough sleep, liver longer and healthier lives. 

Lack of sleep on the other hand has major detrimental affects to your wellbeing. It stresses you out, increases anxiety and makes you emotionally reactive. Seriously impaired brain function slows your ability to process information and problem solve. Any period of sustained focus becomes unbearable resulting in little to no productivity. Sleep deprivation is also terrible for your health and linked to a variety of serious health problems including strokes, heart attacks, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

If you want to perform better you need to sleep better.  

Where possible be consistent in when you go to bed and rise. This will greatly improve your quality of sleep as your body becomes familiar with the routine. Aim to sleep for 7 to 9 hours but take the time to learn how much you personally need and adjust your schedule to fit. Prepare for sleep by relaxing and winding down, this means avoiding late night working as your brain will remain alert making it difficult to sleep, no caffeine (ideally from lunch time) and no devices. Eliminate any interruptions within your control (kids not included) and finally develop a habit of waking up naturally (no alarm), your days will start off so much better for it. 

If sleep is still low on your agenda consider this 'The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep’ - Dr. Travis Bradberry

Finally, enjoy your pleasures with moderation. A healthy mind lives in a healthy body.

5. Practice meditation and mindfulness 

Meditation doesn’t need to be some strange practice reserved for aspiring monks or yogis. It can be the simple act of sitting alone in silence, closing your eyes and observing your thoughts for just 10 minutes a day.  

Research shows that regular meditation practice is an effective treatment for stress and anxiety, promotes emotional stability and a considered, mindful approach to everyday situations. It improves self control and your ability to focus on a single task for longer and is also proven to promote ‘divergent thinking’ essential to idea generation. You’ll also sleep better. 

Meditation is the gentle practice of training and transforming the mind. Observing our relationship to our passing thoughts and feelings, learning to view them with a little more perspective. Through this practice you will naturally find a place of calm, become less critical and judgemental about yourself and others developing more harmonious relationships. You will be more accepting of the world around you, feel more content, happy and satisfied. 

Even the basics of mediation can have a transformative effect rewarding you with a new understanding of yourself and life. It becomes a state of being that can be profoundly peaceful and energising that you will naturally want to maintain throughout your day. 

"We can’t control the sea, but we can learn how to surf the waves”. — Headspace

6. Wake up grateful & show appreciation

Gratitude is simply being aware of the gifts in our lives and consciously experiencing appreciation. It’s the opposite of depression and anxiety and the positive results are tangible. Gratitude can lead to an increased sense of wellbeing, better sleep, increased energy, willingness to accept change, strength in the face of challenges and even lower symptoms of physical pain.

We can be so wrapped up in our current work-flow, project goal or our next professional challenge that we forget everything that’s happened to get us where we are. A daily focus on gratitude and appreciation reminds me of all the gifts in my life and to celebrate my life’s journey to date in balance with all those mundane moments that can be amazing sources of joy. 

You can experience gratitude in many simple ways, for example by keeping a journal or by simply focusing on appreciation for a couple of minutes. Personally, weather I write anything down or not, the important thing for me is the strength of present state awareness I feel when I focus on what I am personally grateful for. I feel positive, elated, warm and fuzzy, it makes me smile and the feeling stays with me through out the day.

It’s an essential tool for a balanced life. 

7. Adopt a growth mindset 

The way we think defines us. It defines our behaviour, actions and our relationship to learning, success and failure. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck identifies two basic mindsets we carry about ourselves, fixed and growth. 

A fixed mindset assumes our character, intelligence and creative ability are static givens we can’t change in any meaningful way. Success then, is a result of inherent qualities and striving for success becomes a way of maintaining a sense of being smart or skilled. Threatened by the success of others failure is feared and avoided at all costs as it presents evidence of unintelligence and poor skill.    A growth mindset believes qualities like character, intelligence and creativity can be cultivated through daily effort and deliberate practice. Success then, is the result of this daily effort and striving for success is a journey of leaning and personal development. The success of others presents lessons and inspiration and failure is embraced and viewed objectively, not as evidence unintelligence but as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Every day presents us with new opportunities. A growth mindset gives you an objective lens through which to view your day and encourages a passion for learning and personal development versus an hunger for approval and credibility. You will see opportunities instead of barriers, embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, learn from criticism and recognise effort as the path to success.

Believe in your ability to learn and improve. 

8. Shut out your critics.

As a leader you are an easy target for criticism and those who want to vent their frustrations. It is important to be humble and open to feedback, the trick however is to seek out feedback which is constructive and ultimately makes you a better person and leader. For all the rest, if it isn’t potentially damaging, and it very rarely is, simply ignore it. Focusing on the negative chatter and destructive opinions of others is a waste of your time and energy.  

For the criticism that you really feel can’t be ignored, resist the urge for a knee jerk counterattack and practice remaining calm, cool and considered in your response.

 It's unbelievable how easily some smart and successful leaders fall into the trap of mindless criticism and mud slinging prompted by very little. This is a mistake and reflects badly on you as a leader. A few careless words or actions could haunt you for years to come.

It's take discipline to stay objective and centred. Don't let others negatively influence your thinking or focus.

Finally, don’t fall into the trap of seeking out your critics with the intention of staying informed. It will only serve to frustrate or anger you and your preoccupation with that information will effectively derail your productivity and what should be your current focus.

We are a people that love to observe, judge and critique, weather we are qualified to do so or not is irrelevant. It happens and it always will. It's how you handle it that matters.

9. Practice self discipline 

Developing new habits requires self discipline. It takes focus, practice and patience. Fortunately this is a learned behaviour and like a muscle, with regular practice it will become stronger over time and what felt like a struggle at first will soon be very easy to maintain. 

However, let things slip and they will keep slipping. Worse still, as a leader, others look to you for guidance and inspiration and they will naturally follow your lead subconsciously accepting it’s ok to let things slip. Practice self discipline and lead yourself and others by example. 

A quote from the 6th century Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu sums this up very well. 

"Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny."
- Lao Tzu

People are naturally attracted to like minded people, those they admire or simply wish to emulate. Consider yourself the foundations of your organisation on which all things stand. That foundation needs to be a strong, clear and visible representation of the qualities you expect to see in others. If you want to attract and nurture a team of highly skilled, high performing professionals, that’s exactly what you need to be to attract that group in the first place. 

Successfully running a business is tough, be deliberate about preparing yourself for ongoing challenges through a daily focus on your own wellbeing and personal growth. Your impact on the world will only be as strong or effective as the individual you ultimately are.

Source : http://bit.ly/1Pdj2NC