Being in business is tough! And if you want to succeed you have to be prepared to go the distance and put the work in.

Too many entrepreneurs are pinning their hopes on having overnight success. That if they hang their shingle out, people will come. They are hoping that their Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram or YouTube post will go viral and they can sit back and rake in the riches.

Unfortunately, this misconception is being sold all the time all over the internet. That you can make hundreds of thousands of dollars doing XYZ in a matter of months.

Sorry I have to call BS on that one!

The truth is that most overnight successes in business have at least 3 years of hard graft under their belts to reach that level of success.

There are four important elements to reach that success:

Planning

Discipline

Consistency

Patience

Most people know or have watched the Rocky movie, but very few people know the story behind it.

You see, Sylvester Stallone had a goal to be an actor but got rejection after...

We all have goals that we want to achieve. Some are simple and easily achieved, while others are big, hairy audacious goals that challenge us and can even scare the heck out of us initially.

While motivation might get you started, when it comes to achieving your goals or sustaining the results from those goals, you may need to rely on more than just your willpower.

Having an accountability buddy is a great way to help you stay on track especially when your motivation and willpower fades.

In a study regarding goal achievement by Dr Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at the Dominican University in California, results showed that people who wrote down their goals, shared this information with a friend and sent them weekly updates were on average 33% more successful in accomplishing their stated goals than those who merely formulated them.

So what is an Accountability Buddy and how do you find one?

An accountability buddy is a business peer who you meet with weekly...

If you want to win in life and win at work one of the critical areas to focus on is your Emotional Productivity.

We are emotional beings regardless of whether we express our emotions openly or stuff them down inside us.

Becoming aware of how our emotions impact on ourselves and those around us is the first step in becoming Emotionally Productive.

Which is why I’ve invited Angela Heise to be my special guest on this webinar.

Angela has a long list of accreditations and has travelled the world helping organisations and individuals develop Emotional Productivity helping people overcome the three stumbling blocks on the path for life:

• Toxic emotions
• Reactive responses
• Harmful behaviour

Angela shares how these stumbling blocks impact our lives and our work and discusses the steps we need to take in order to be Emotionally Productive so that we can win in life and win at work.

Starting your own business sounds like a bed of roses right?

You get to be your own boss.
You get to work your own hours.
You get to do what you love.
You get to spend more time…at the beach/with the family/fishing/whatever floats your boat right?

It’s the dream drifting through the head of every budding entrepreneur.

Don’t get me wrong…I celebrate those who are willing to start their own business.

I’m one of them.

But there is a dark side to entrepreneurship that many people don’t talk about.

Let me tell you, it can be very lonely.

You’ll find yourself in a bubble where the only other people who will understand what you’re going through are other entrepreneurs.  While your family and friends might be proud of you, they are watching safe from the sidelines. They aren’t the one in the arena with the blood and sweat on their brow.

Perhaps you head off to attend your local business network breakfast where you meet...

“Everything we do is based on agreements we have made – agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves.” – Don Miguel Ruiz

Many years ago I read Don Miguel Ruiz’s little book “The Four Agreements” where he reveals where self-limiting beliefs come from that rob us of the joy in our lives. If you haven’t read this book, let me share what The Four Agreements are:

• Be Impeccable With Your Word
• Don’t Take Anything Personally
• Don’t Make Assumptions
• Always Do Your Best

Over the years I felt that I had embraced the lessons and incorporated them into my life…I always put my best foot forward, reminded myself that jumping to conclusions was an exercise fraught with danger and that what others do and say comes from their issues and situation at that time in place, not because of me.

Yet when it comes to the very first Agreement...

“Sometimes my mouth hits the accelerator before my brain has gone into gear.” – Julie Mason

Have you ever said ‘Yes’ to something when deep inside you is screaming ‘Noooooo, don’t do it!!!”?
And when you do, the energy you bring to whatever it is that you have agreed to do is just not your best energy. You drag your feet. Procrastination moves in and gets comfy. Then guilt arrives and you start avoiding the person you gave your agreement to…sound familiar?

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Well, it comes from this deep need for other’s approval. But lurking underneath that is where we really get to the core of the issue…and that is how you see your own self-worth.

Self-worth is a slippery thing for many of us who are passionate about what we do but not yet internally convinced that the world sees our value. That’s why we accept less than we are worth and then we get quietly resentful. And resentment is a nasty...