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Staying Motivated In Your Career : 3 Stellar Strategies to Try

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Staying Motivated|Staying Motivated In Your Career : 3 Stellar Strategies to TryIt is not always easy to stay motivated at work. In fact, long hours, plus stress can drain all of the dedication and focus out of you. However, even if you are feeling the pull of inertia, there are some tactics you can use to stay consistently motivated. Read on to discover what they are.

Get your goal setting right.

The first way to maintain your motivation at work is to understand effective goal setting. This is because if you are always aiming for things in the distant future, it can be straightforward to lose the motivation to continue.

Instead, you must make sure that you have a mix of immediate, short, medium, and long term goals. For example, your long term goal may be to start up your own business. However, you may wish to set becoming a manager in the company in which you already word as a medium-term goal. Additionally, a short term goal would be to secure a raise and more responsibility in your current role. While an immediate goal could be to go and ask you superior to evaluate your progress so far.

In fact, in this way you can achieve something this week, and at various stages towards your end goal. All of which will help you achieve your end goal, but will also ensure that you stay motivated along the journey.

Understanding your motivation.

Another critical aspect of staying motivated in your career is getting to grips with what motivates you as a person. In fact, there are various ways of doing this, such as defining your values or goals in life.

However, one of the most effective ways to uncover the thing that drives you is to use tools like the Enneagram. The Enneagram test can be useful for personal development because it highlights both an individual’s most fundamental fear and their most basic desire. That is what they are moving towards and away from in all areas of their lives. Of course, both of these are essential areas of motivation for any type of action, including the ones we take concerning our career.

Meaningful work.

Finally, when it comes to motivation in your career, a touch of realism is vital. That is that in every single job there is, there are bad days. Days when you are fed up, drained and want to throw in the towel.

However, when you have a meaningful career, it is a lot easier to get through the more negative experiences. This is because then you will have an underlying motivation that trumps any issues you may face.

To that end, when selecting or changing a career, consider more than just the pay grade.

Instead, you also must consider factors like the ones below as well:

  • What you love to do.
  • How what you do can make a positive difference in the world.
  • What you are good at

In fact, this sweet spot between all of these factors is something the Japanese refer to as Ikigai. This is a state that will help you stay motivated at work even on the most challenging of days.

Tips for Giving Your Business a Successful Global Presence

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When you are trying to run a global brand it is so important to understand what this entails. You need to try to make the most of any opportunities you get to improve the business. There are a lot of things you can and should do in order to help take your company international and develop a strong global presence.

Modern businesses develop in a lot of ways, and one of the best things you can do is to think about the changes you need to make in order to help make the most of this. Now, there are a lot of things you are going to have to get right when it comes to giving your company a global presence, and these are some of the best ideas that can help with that.

Diverse Employees

One of the best ways of turning your business into a global brand and trying to make positive changes in the future is to ensure that you are hiring a diverse body of staff. Trying to bring in people from all walks of life, and with different backgrounds and cultures is really important. You are going to have to figure out the best way of being able to achieve this. Do as much as you can to figure out some of the best employees you should be hiring as a business right now.

Professional Translators

Something else you could do to really set your business apart from the rest, and make a great impression moving forward is to hire professional translators. This is a hugely important move when it comes to impressing foreign clients, and showing them that the business cares about them. Head over to this website and check out the services they offer, so you can see what it takes to make the most of this and find the ideal translators for your business.

Rebranding

You have to do as much as you can to ensure you have a business that is perfectly suited for a foreign marketplace, and the way to achieve this is to work on rebranding. You have a lot you need to keep in mind when it comes to improving and assessing the best ways of being able to do this. Sometimes, you might find that things get lost in translation, and this means you need to consider a rebrand so that your company is in the best condition it can be to thrive in a foreign market. One of the things that is going to help you the most is to think about the cultural differences between the country you want to build a presence in and the one you are from. Getting this right could make all the difference when protecting your company.

As you can see, when you are trying to run a successful business it is important to look at how you can turn it into an international brand. Now, there are plenty of ideas that will help you with this, and trying to launch a business abroad isn’t exactly an easy proposition. Follow these ideas and you will be well placed to make the most of this right now.

How Social Media Changed Tourism Marketing

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How Social Media Changed Tourism Marketing

Social media has changed the way people communicate and exchange information. Because of this, industries in almost every sector have had to adapt to stay ahead of the curve. For some companies, making the switch was difficult. For others, the rise in social media has improved not only exposure but also the way companies market and do business. The travel and hospitality sector is one of those areas. Social media has become the most effective form of marketing since it allows exposure to your business organically. The travel industry has particularly benefited from this change.

There has been a rise in social sharing because of social media platforms. Over 97 percent of millennials share photos and videos of their travels online, according to Entrepreneur, and the travel industry is catching on. Some companies have encouraged their customers to engage with their business through social media.

Consumers turn to social media platforms to research places to visit and the best ways to travel. To find out places to travel, 89 percent of millennials plan travel activities based on content posted by their peers online. This is thanks to social media sites like Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. Though Facebook is not specific to travel like TripAdvisor, Facebook Recommendations allow its users to ask advice to their peers about the best cities to travel, which hotels to stay in, restaurants, and activities to do. All of these things essentially use word of mouth, which is the most effective form of marketing.

StrategyDriven's Social Media Publication Timing Whitepaper


Social media has also impacted the travel agency sector. Once consumers have found a destination, they are likely to book on their own using their mobile devices. Break The Ice Media reports 35 percent of travelers have used mobile to book a tour or activity while already on location. Travel agencies have had to catch up to the rising trend focusing on selling experiences instead of materials. Self-booking has not completely knocked out the travel agency business model as they are responsible for 55 percent of airline bookings, 77 percent of cruise bookings, and 73 percent of package bookings, reports Entrepreneur.

Making it easier to communicate directly with consumers, social media has also allowed travel and hospitality companies to improve their customer service. Consumers utilize things like Trip Advisor, and Yelp to share customer satisfaction. Most companies also have a social media presence making it even easier for disgruntled or confused customers to reach out and share their dissatisfaction. Uhuru says when customers reach out to a brand on social media, over 50 percent expect a reply. This may sound like a customer service representative’s worst nightmare, but it is actually very good for the business. By quickly responding to comments on social media, they can easily improve their reputation. This helps consumers see your brand is professional and they feel valued as a patron. Listening to a customer’s complaints or concerns is another way to learn more about your customers, allowing your company to provide an excellent experience.

Guide to Getting Started with a Blog for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Guide to Getting Started with a Blog for Your Business

Having a blog as part of your business website is a brilliant way to help to connect with the customers that you have, and it also adds some strength to your business, and gives you some clout as a brand. However, even with these benefits, there are many businesses that haven’t yet latched on to the idea that having a blog is something that is going to be beneficial. Many businesses think that a blog can be something that is time-consuming. It can take some planning to come up with ideas for posts, and actually getting them written, but that shouldn’t be what stops you from launching one for your business. The time and planning really is worth the effort.

A blog for your business website is not a waste going to be a waste of time. In fact, it has been found that it can be one of the most cost-effective ways that you can market and promote your business, and can help to get more leads, and as a result, sales and customers. You can establish yourself as an authority in your industry, when you share relevant and correct information, and it can help you to get found more easily on the world wide web. Not only that, it is pretty straightforward to blog. You can always outsource it too, but with so many businesses doing it, and seeing the benefit, it needs to be something that you at least consider. With that in mind, here are some of the top tips on how to start a professional blog for your business.

Write for your customers

Writing for your business blog is something that is going to be different to writing for your own personal blog. Although some examples can come into play, they should be business related to demonstrate a point, rather than drawing on personal experience. The business blog is not all about you as an individual. You should always bear in mind that the people who are going to read the blog, are your customers or potential customers. So the content that is out there, needs to be written for them and their needs. Think about who your ideal customer is, and then write content according to that.

Great web hosting

If you already have a website, then the chances are that you are already happy with what you have. However, for a blog, you should have some great hosting, to really maximize the benefits of blogging, and making sure that the look and design of your site works well, and fits in with your brand. There are a variety of options, such as cloud hosting, or using a platform that is specific to blogging, like WordPress, for example. You could even consider something like Hostgator WordPress hosting which is hosting that is designed specifically to cater to any WordPress websites. When you combine cloud and WordPress hosting together, as in this case, it could help you to get a fast, secure, and reliable website and blog. You want the site to be quick to load and reliable, otherwise people will just get bored.

Content is king

In order for readers to stick to your blog, and keep coming back for more, the content that you create needs to be great! Not to mention that Google loves fresh content, so posting regularly helps to have new content for it to index, and helps your website to rank well in searches. Having great content is how you establish your business website as an authority in your industry. When you write about what you know, then it will make the writing easy. As a result, it will be more comfortable and engaging, and keep readers coming back for more.

If you have a business that sells garden furniture, for example, it can be something that can be a little dry, but there are lots of ways that you can go with it. If you are an expert on all things garden and furniture related, and what will work best in different settings or conditions, then that is the kind of content that you should run with. It is all having content that is relevant and interesting, even if on the surface you might not think that it is.

You should also look to answer questions that you think your readers might have. Going on to the garden furniture topic again, for example, you could talk about storage and weather conditions, such as looking after your furniture in winter. This is potentially a question that your customers could have. When they know that they can come to you for all things garden related and have their questions answered, it is more likely that they will come back again.

Little and often

Blog posts don’t need to be long essays. So it is a good idea to keep them short, sweet, and to the point, answering questions along the way. Unless someone is looking to thoroughly look into and research a particular topic, people will only be looking for quick information that they can skim read. As a guide, it is a good idea to aim your blog posts to be around 250 to 500 words. If it is going to involve more words to get your point across more clearly, then that is obviously something that is completely fine to do. There is also no set time to post, or how often you should post. Just think about being consistent. If once a week is all you can manage, then just make sure that it is once a week. Customers will want to come back to see new content each time.

One of the key points is to mix things up a little. Of course, a blog is there to help convert site visitors into sales. But don’t make it all about your products and recommending them. Mix up your posts with plenty of images, link to relevant articles, and even share videos. Engage with those that leave comments, and get the whole team involved; it will make a difference.

In the Time of COVID-19, Take Resilience-Building Tips from an Open Ocean Sailor

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | In the Time of COVID-19, Take Resilience-Building Tips from an Open Ocean SailorAdventurers immerse themselves in the most testing environments on the planet and acquire unique insights into how to be their best. They implicitly understand what it means to perform under pressure, because their very lives often depend on it. An adventurer’s mindset can help instruct us during this pandemic.

The COVID-19 crisis has turned us all into adventurers, as we push our limits and test our resolve during this journey into the unknown. It’s a strange situation, but the current pandemic is forcing us to don the adventurer’s mantle. Adventurers thrive on uncertainty and become motivated and empowered when they face the unknown. They intuitively understand that resilience is a skill that requires challenge to build and grow. The COVID-19 pandemic has developed into a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for us all and will take resilience to get through.

As this crisis unfolds, the story of one adventurer in particular, an open ocean sailor named Lisa Blair, exemplifies the resilience from which we can all benefit. An extremely accomplished solo open ocean sailor, Lisa has been thrown into a cauldron of uncertainty many times in her career and has always managed to navigate through. Her attempt to break the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of Antarctica is one of the most perilous journeys a sailor could undertake, and if it wasn’t for her immense capacity for resilience, she would never have survived it.

Everything had been going exactly to plan for the first 72 days of Lisa’s endeavor, and she was one month away from reaching her goal. But in the midst of a treacherous storm, everything changed. “The mast snapped at deck level so there was nothing standing up outside my boat, it was totally gone,” she recalls. The mast had fallen to the leeward side of the boat and immediately became an immovable object in the water. Her boat, Climate Action Now, was left hanging off its new anchor, pounded by 25-foot waves.

In the grips of a massive storm about 1,000 nautical miles from land, with no ship traffic near, Lisa was completely alone in the face of grave danger. “If I lost the boat that far south, there was no second chance. Even if I jumped in a life raft with my survival suit, the chances of recovery were slim for any ship to even find me, let alone find me alive if I hadn’t succumbed to exposure. So I had to free the mast at all costs.”

Through the darkness of an angry night, Lisa set about trying to save her boat. She had to free the destroyed mast — a delicate procedure in calm conditions, but in the frenzy of a storm, as her boat pitched and rolled with waves washing across its deck, it became a life-threatening task.

To release the mast Lisa needed to uncouple the rigging. To do this she needed to disengage a split-pin at the connection point at several locations. “I tried to hammer them out with my screwdriver and hammer and it just wasn’t working,” she recalls. “I was shaking so badly, I couldn’t aim right and I kept smashing my left hand. My whole hand ballooned up as I’d likely broken a few bones.”

To separate the forestay, Lisa had to crawl out on the end of the bowsprit where she was pummeled with huge crashing waves. “My legs were clamped so hard and I was gripping the remaining bit of railing with a death grip as I held on.” She needed to time her work with the gaps in the waves, hammering for all she’s worth in the trough of a wave and hanging on when the next one approached. Lisa cycled through her hands-on hands-off rodeo ride until the split-pin finally popped loose. She scrambled back on deck and made quick work of the side stays, then watched her mast slip beneath the ocean surface. She had saved the boat and herself.

Lisa Blair had to abort her record attempt and use her motor (and a perilous rescue by a Chinese container ship) to retreat to Cape Town, South Africa. Two months later with her boat repaired, she was ready to head back to sea. But instead of applause and encouragement, she was met with a chorus of naysayers telling her she had no business heading back out. Winter had descended on the Southern Ocean, and with it came colder weather, bigger waves and hurricane-sized storms.

After the monumental challenges and disappointments of the previous months, most people would have called it quits, but not Lisa. In her mind she had started something, and she was going to finish it.

What special something kept her going? What made Lisa so resilient? Here are some of her secrets:

1. Plan for worst-case scenarios.By using all of her knowledge and experience, Lisa knew both practically and emotionally what she needed to do. Her background in undertaking difficult adventures helped her prepare for her journey. She anticipated worst-case scenarios and planned how she would deal with them. She was as prepared as she could be.

Scenario planning can be an incredibly effective tool to anticipate the unknown. Mapping “if-then” responses and visualizing a myriad of scenarios can help us respond to any challenge that presents itself. Worst-case scenario planning allows us to make any decisions we face with a clear head.

2. Maintain strong personal relationships.Lisa’s strong personal relationships helped her to maintain her resilience. During difficult times, she effectively processes her feelings by sharing them openly with her support network of family and friends.

For all of us, utilizing our trusted relationships can keep our spirits up. Reaching out to those closest to us to process strong feelings is a key way to boost resilience and move through these challenging times.

3. Remain realistically optimistic.Lisa’s resilience also stemmed from a powerful sense of realistic optimism. Her ability to accurately assess the gravity of her challenges while maintaining a deep belief in the possibility of a positive outcome was critical.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can follow Lisa’s lead of accepting the current reality with a belief that we’ll eventually resume our disrupted quests. Success is still within our reach.

By adopting the adventurer’s approach to setbacks and challenges, we will build resilience in the face of these challenging times.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Amy PoseyAmy Posey is a Silicon Valley-based leadership consultant focused on neuroscience and high performance. She is the founder and CEO of SUPER*MEGA*BOSS, a manager training company.

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Kevin VallelyKevin Vallely juggles his life as a registered architect, leadership mentor, author, keynote speaker and father, while also becoming an internationally recognized explorer. Their new book is Wild Success: 7 Key Lessons Business Leaders Can Learn from Extreme Adventures (McGraw Hill, March 10, 2020). Learn more at www.morewildsuccess.com.