Mentors provide guidance and advice to a person or group by sharing their expertise and experience. A good mentor will help you grow in every way, including new business and work skills, by helping you hone your principles, morals, and values. They should also be able to offer constructive criticism when necessary to help you develop the skills needed to improve your career or life.

In other words, a mentor can guide you through your career, share your experience, and offer advice. Mentors can help you make proper decisions about your future. They can be found in many different places such as in the workplace, school, or even within a family. A mentor can be anyone from a family member to a friend or co-worker, but they are most often professionals in the same field as the mentee.

Here are four tips on finding a good mentor.

Make a List and Start Asking

Start by making a list of those you would love to be your mentor. Even if it's impossible, still write it down. For example, if you want a famous mentor, they will likely not help you, but you never know. Your list of potential mentors will give you a good idea of the qualities they need to have to help you grow and gain the information you need to be successful and happy.

Once you have your list, find a way to reach out to them and ask. Sometimes all it takes is asking for them to provide mentorship.

Be Clear about Your Needs

Before working with a mentor, be clear about your goals and expectations. Knowing what you want from the relationship is essential before getting started. What do you need from them and hope to achieve from the partnership? If you are not ready to answer these questions, you need to figure them out before reaching out to people. This way, you can find the right mentor for you.

Research within Your Industry

Find someone who offers mentoring as a service by researching within your industry. This can be done by looking through social media or making a simple Google search. You can even go directly to industry leaders' websites to find out what services they offer aside from their main gig.

Provide Something in Return

A healthy mentor and mentee relationship is not only one-sided. Believe it or not, you too can offer something to your mentor. For example, allowing a manager over 70 years old access to your life at 30 years old can be invaluable for them too.

Finding the right mentor for you can be challenging but it’s very much worth the effort. Mentors have the crucial knowledge from their experience to help you improve your skills and grow. However, it is vital to find the right mentor to make it worthwhile. The wrong mentor can leave you confused, lost, and demotivated. With these tips, you can be sure you find the right mentor for you.

People head to work each day and complete the tasks required of them. They do this day in and day out, even though it isn’t rewarding for most. So why do they do it? They like the security of having a steady paycheck.

There is more to life than a paycheck and many are starting to realize this. It could be that it’s easier than ever to start a business. Before the internet, the only real choices were a brick-and-mortar type of business. That is still viable for some. But, for others, an online business is the way to go.

Still, it can be quite scary to throw your entire career away to start up something new. Just because it’s easy to start a business today, doesn’t mean business is easy. The competition is growing daily. And, the competition is from people all over the world. Giving up the security of that paycheck is not a decision to be made lightly.

One push for people to start something new is they are finding that their jobs are not as secure as they once thought. Layoffs and downsizing happen at regular intervals. Even people who survive the cuts will be expected to work harder and longer hours. Often, their salaries are reduced and bonuses are something for the history books.

People get to the point where they don’t feel secure and they resent having to do more work for the same (or even less) pay. This can give them the motivation they need to branch out on their own. The good news is many people can start these businesses on the side and continue to earn paychecks until their new business earns money. When this happens, they take on a new mental outlook of hope knowing that a better life is possible.

They also learn they can charge to coach others to do the same. This movement feeds off of itself as more dare to realize their dreams of owning their own business. It can be related to their field or they can branch off into something entirely different. Imagine getting paid for something you love! The possibilities are endless.

Don’t quit your job until you know what kind of business you are going to start and come up with a business plan. Also, seek out help from qualified people. You may have to pay some money upfront for their expertise, but it may be well worth the effort later.

If you've been scouting for a skill to learn, it's advisable that you consider
beefing up your conversation skills which also fall under communication.
For you to be able to build solid relationships and relate with your
partners, family, and friends, you need to know how to hold a good
conversation because it's likely that many people will want to avoid you if
you have poor conversational skills. Communicating with someone with
poor conversational skills can be quite frustrating.

Being a Good Listener

Listening is the number one thing in conversations and it's also one of the
vital rudiments of a conversation. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not
really understand how vital listening is in the communication process
because they feel communication is all about making their voices heard.

When you practice the art of listening, it shows that you respect people
and it will pave an easy path for you to build rapport. The beautiful thing
about listening is that it makes people become attracted to you. Somehow,
you'll just notice that out of several other people, you'll become the
favorite everyone wants to speak to. Why? Because you listen.

As simple as listening seems to be, a lot of people find it to be nauseating.
Yet, you cannot communicate to the person you are having a conversation
with that you care when you don't listen. Think of it yourself, how do you
feel when you're talking to someone and the person is listening intently to
you?

Now, think otherwise, do you also feel the same way when the person
you're talking to doesn't listen? You see, listening is a simple, silent but
powerful act that can take your conversations to the next level and
improve your relationships. Nevertheless, it's worthy to point out that
there's a difference between being shy and listening, irrespective of the
fact that people tend to mix the two up. You might be hesitant or shy and
may not be listening...

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There is nobody on earth who can lay claim to never making a bad decision. People make too many decisions for them not to make bad decisions once-in-a-while. Hopefully, those decisions have little impact. However, there will be occasions where you make some that have big consequences.

It’s going to happen.  You try to do everything in your power to avoid these bad decisions. Perhaps, the information you needed was not available at the time you made the decision.  Or, someone gave you the wrong data, whether intentionally or not. It’s possible you made a rash decision without giving much thought to the consequences of the decision. Whatever the case, the result may turn into an unpleasant and stressful situation.

You need to face up to the consequences. Take ownership of the decision and don’t pass the blame. It’s possible you will have to deal with someone if they didn’t give you the right information or they deceived you in some manner. Their action may be the cause of the wrong decision, and you have to choose if you should let that person go as a result. However, if you were the one that was responsible for making the final decision, then the consequences of that decision rests with you.

Stay confident and don’t panic. Learn about what happened and why. Then, try to find ways to reduce the impact of your decision. If it is a business decision that costs your company some money, make sure you let your management know about it right away. Don’t try to ignore the problem thinking that management may not notice. They will be upset when a mistake costs the company money. But, they will be even more upset if you don’t make it known in a timely fashion.

Don’t be afraid to talk to someone who may be able to help with the situation. It could be your boss or a mentor. They may be able to shed some insight into the situation. In fact, you could be blowing the situation out of proportion, and they will know how to get you out of it. But, they can only help if you give them timely information about it.

If the situation requires presenting your case to higher-level management, try to prepare alternatives on how to reverse the situation or reduce the impact. If these managers see that you have taken control of the situation, they may decide to let you run with the alternatives, although probably with a watchful eye of your manager.

Two cannot walk together except if they agree and therefore communication has always been a tool to facilitate understanding between people and help us carry out our usual activities without glitches. Maybe you have a presentation, you're writing an email, or carrying out any simple task, your progress and productivity can be affected by how you communicate.

As a result, it becomes expedient that both the message receiver and sender do not have miscommunication accruing from the delivered message. In today's world, technology has made communication easier but regardless, many people still find it herculean to communicate without being misunderstood or misinterpreted.

5 Killer Skills to Make Your Message Clear 

There are two major forms of communication, which are written and verbal. If you're going to be communicating orally or you're employing a written medium, the first thing you should do is to proofread and scrutinize what you have prepared before you proceed to finalize the copy.

It would also be helpful if you can look out for other possible interpretations of the message to know if there's any need to make further...

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Some people contend, that in it's simplest form, life is a series of choices. This is, in some sense, true. Except that it's not that simple, because life itself is not that simple. The complexity of life or, rather, living a life, means that the choices the average individual faces over the course of a lifetime are equally complex.

These choices range from simple survival decisions (Should I eat that mushroom?), to difficult moral personal choices (Should I speak out against this injustice and incur increased personal risk?) Obviously, the one thing that all these decisions have in common are the option of choosing action and outcome. However, because the nature of of these various actions, and their potential outcomes, vary wildly, no one strategy can encompass the process of deciding between them This is where an understanding of what a decision is becomes important.

A decision is, of course, the action of deciding something. A person faced with a choice, makes a choice. The most basic example of this is the proverbial fork in the road. When facing a fork in the road, you have the choice of going left or going right. You stop for a period of time while you think, then you decide to go either left or right. Once the decision has been made you take the path you've chosen.

That's straightforward and obvious, right? To some extent, the answer to that question is yes. To a greater extent, however, the answer is no. To become a more efficient and more focused decision maker, you need to understand all the processes that went into making the simple decision above.

First, there was a problem. The path you were walking on divided into two. Second, there was the nature of the problem. Because the path divided, you were forced to go either left or right to reach your destination. Third, you needed to choose between these two options in order to continue. Fourth, you utilized your experience, knowledge and intuition to decide which option was best suited to  your needs. Fifth, you actually made the decision. Finally, you, once again, began moving forward towards your destination based on that decision.

As you can see, the simplest of decisions entails a number of steps. In most cases, we handle these steps subconsciously, without really being aware of what it is we are doing. When the decision we are faced with is simple, this "autopilot" method of choosing isn't a problem. However, when more complex decisions need to be made, not understanding the process can give rise to difficulties.

Are you good at making decisions? The skill is natural for some people while others struggle to make even the most basic decisions. While personality types can play a role in one’s ability to make decisions, it’s also a skill that can be learned.

One reason people don’t like to make decisions is they don’t want to be held responsible for the outcomes. This reluctance is a defense mechanism as others may criticize you if you don’t choose wisely. It could erode the confidence others have in you regarding your ability to make decisions. However, you can take steps to reduce it from happening.

One of the main factors in decision making is confidence. Therefore, building confidence will help you make decisions. Others will also follow your lead as they will respect your confidence. When you make decisions with confidence, they have no choice but to recognize your authority.

Decision making requires finding out the right information. You won’t get far if you start making decisions without information to back them. You need to be informed when making your decisions which means you have a bit of detective work to do. You have to get as many of the facts as you can before making most decisions.

Often, you won’t get all the facts you need for one reason or another. In this case, you will need to take a leap of faith and rely on your confidence when making decisions. That’s an unfortunate part of the process and one that makes people choose wrong directions sometimes. But, as long as you decide using the information you have available, you can defend your choice.

As part of the decision-making process, consider coming up with alternatives. List out all possible alternatives based on the current information. You can rate the alternatives on a scale of your choosing. This rating can help you when making the decision. You can choose a star-rating system or a percentage system (0-100), etc.

Another technique people like to use is to list out the pros and the cons. To do this, take out a blank piece of paper and write a dividing line in the center. Create the heading “Pros” on the left, and “Cons” on the right. Then, list out the pros and the cons. You can use this to guide you with your decision. Try not to make this process too mechanical as the list may contain several subjective items.

How do you make a decision? Do you know the steps?

If you’re having trouble feeling confident in your actions and wish you had an unwavering self-belief in your decisions, maybe it's time to look at your decision-making process. Decisions made impulsively or without careful thought might not always turn out the way you hope they will.

Of course, there's something to be said for instinct and even dumb luck. But what if good decisions were inevitable rather than occasional? Imagine for a moment how it would feel to know you're right before you even act.

This is because there are steps you should be going through when making a decision. Let’s take a look at those now.

Start With an Open Mind

Do you automatically have all the answers? Probably not. Some of your beliefs might be biased, faulty, or illogical. Accepting you might have things to learn is the first and most crucial step to making decisions. Take a step back from everything but the raw facts regarding what you're trying to decide.

Get the Facts

Do you have all the information you need to make an informed decision? Are there things you need to learn? What about examining the options? Have you considered multiple solutions? Take time to put the work in to gather what you need to proceed with confidence.

Predict the Future

Once you have some choices in mind, try to imagine how they're going to play out. Sometimes what looks good might be a great temporary solution, but you're going to need to do something different in the long run. If you make a certain decision right now, ask yourself if this will still be a good decision in the morning? What about next week? Or next year?

Get Another Opinion

Do you have a mentor or someone you can trust whom you could talk to about this? While you might skip this step on the small stuff, it's worth having someone you trust weigh in with their opinion whenever you make a big decision. They might see something you're missing.

Act

Sometimes the hardest part of making decisions lies in making the actual decision. It’s tempting to go back over the research a few more times or keep looking for other alternatives. At some point, you’re going to need to act. Take your best solution and move forward with it with confidence. You’ve done all the work. Now comes the part where you put this newfound trust in yourself into action.

The best part? The more you run through this process, the more confident you’ll feel about making decisions in the first place.

As simple as communication may seem, it can shape the course of your life positively or negatively. Communication plays a significant role in all areas of your life and your personal life, social gatherings, and work-life aren't immune to its effects.

For instance, just as you need good communication skills to be able to enjoy better relationships with your romantic partner and loved ones, you also need to communicate effectively with your colleagues at work so that you can achieve success and shield your professional career from hitting the rock.

You'll be amazed at how all aspects of your life will be incredibly fine-tuned when you develop effective interpersonal communication skills for these skills will help you present your points accurately, tailor your thoughts wisely, and deliver your ideas precisely. Here are some of what you stand to enjoy when you improve your communication skills....

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Did you know that more than half of the businesses that start this year will likely fail within their first year? While this is unfortunate, it shouldn’t stop you from running and starting your own business. The reason for failure is because most businesses lack proper information to be successful in the first place.

Remember, all this information is easily discovered before you get started. Doing your due diligence with research will improve your chances of running a successful business.

Here are three important tips to follow.

Know Your Target Audience and Competition Well

You can’t say that the products and services you create are valuable and worth it if you can’t define exactly who your target audience is. Without a target audience, you will have no direction or understanding to improve upon your ideas to scale your business and increase sustainability.

Understanding your competition allows you to establish your creditability, value, and difference within the industry. In addition, through proper competitor analysis, you gain essential knowledge to understand your audience better, improve your products, and perfect your marketing strategies.

Create Highly Interactive and Valuable Content

Anything you provide to your target audience should be paired with highly valuable content. Without content, you can’t effectively find your audience or market to them. Not only does content increase brand visibility, but it also improves your trust and credibility. The more free information you provide through content, the more likely they are to make a purchase and become a loyal customer to your brand or business.

Always Commit to Improvement

Again, your audience is the most important for the success of your business. Without them, you would not be profitable. As you learn more about your target audience, you will likely need to make changes or improvements as time goes on. This requires taking the time to ask your audience important questions and feedback.

These three vital yet simple tips are exactly what you need to run a successful business. Knowing your target audience and competition is only the first step to unlocking your true potential as a business owner. From there, you need powerful content to keep them engaged and to learn even more about your target audience as your business gets older and better. Finally, you must commit to improvement to make sure they stay happy and committed to your business.