I’m publishing this post by freelance writer Aidan Hijleh because even though you could focus only on making money and growing your business, living a more balanced life is likely to make you happier and healthier. Even avowed workaholics can learn something from this post.
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It’s amazing how often the things that make you do well in life coincide with what makes a business thrive. Here are 10 golden rules for getting the success you deserve in both business and in life in general.
1. Do What You Love
Life is too short to waste it on something you don’t have a genuine passion for. Whether it’s sports or art, we tend to perform much better when we engage in activities we love. Succeeding in business is all about having the passion and drive to get it done, so when you think about it, devoting yourself to what you love in both the professional and general life arenas just makes good sense.
2. Use Empathy
Success is often achieved by getting on the same level as the people you’re communicating with. This is true in both the business environment and personal settings. Imagine how they see the world, and you’ll unlock the answers to making that intimate connection.
3. Maintain Balance
Keeping a balance between all the aspects of both your life and your business is crucial. It applies between the two as well. If you don’t take time out to enjoy life, your business will likely suffer because you’re miserable all the time and unable to perform at your best. At the same time, it is vital to find that careful balance within both individual categories.
For example, if you pour yourself into promoting your business, yet fail to give proper attention to the development of the products you’re touting, then that imbalance is going to churn out poor results. The same can also be true for someone who spends too much time on one hobby that they become obsessed to the detriment of their relationships.
4. Use Technology Without It Using You
Businesses that don’t make use of social media and other emerging marketing tools will lag behind their competitors. By the same token, technology can be a great way to stay in touch with loved ones, and just make life more pleasant all around. However, you should never let yourself become too reliant on any one technological tool. A little self-sufficiency goes a long way on both fronts.
5. Keep Your Dreams in Front You
In life as well as business, it’s relatively easy to get bogged down with the day to day grind of keeping the machine going — The company. The household. The relationship. That’s why it is imperative to take time out every once in a while to gauge where you’re at in the now, and visualize where you want to be in the future.
10 minutes a day could be all it takes to help you refresh and refocus. Besides, depression can cause serious issues in both life and business. Once you lose your energy and motivation, reaching your goals becomes an almost insurmountable challenge.
6. Stay Fresh
It’s important to not let anything you do get stale, if only for the purpose of motivation. If you get sick of it, then other people probably will as well. This is especially true in business where originality and innovation often lead to a competitive edge.
7. Be Financially Aware
You never want to pass off the financial assets of your company, or household to someone else. However, you also don’t want to gloss over them. Taking an up close and personal look at your business or personal finances can be a scary ordeal, but it’s absolutely critical to be successful at anything. Bad finances can sink you no matter what side of the fence you stand on.
8. Learn to Sell
Many people hate to think of anything as “selling,” but this is often what you are doing even in personal endeavors. The first date you have is often a way of selling yourself, for example. And any time you do any kind of business activity you are engaged in a form of selling, even if it’s not explicit. Those who develop this skill will be positioned to garner the most success.
9. Find Support Groups
No matter what problems you encounter in business or in life, you’ll find a local support group for it. Places like Meetup.com will help you discover such groups. Believe it or not, but these communities can be instrumental in claiming that success.
10. Start Today
Time doesn’t slow down for anyone, and your good ideas are at their best right now while they are fresh in your head. This applies just as much for a new job or a new marketing campaign as it does for calling an old friend or going to a concert that’s in town. It’s easy to find reasons why we can’t do something right now, often because we’re afraid to fail. But seizing the moment is the key to getting what we want.
Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.