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You will only go as far as your weaknesses. What are your limitations? Do you have the technical skill to do something, but not enough time to do it? Do you have more time than you know what to do, but not enough money to invest in something (school, investment properties, etc.)?

Your ceiling is determined by your capacities. Unless you can increase your capacities, you can only make it so far. The best businesses (large and small) realize this and put together programs to combat this.

How do you increase what you’re capable of doing? Either by outsourcing your weaknesses (hiring someone to do what you don’t like doing, aren’t good at doing, or don’t receive the best return on your time investment) or by working to improve your weaknesses (increasing your skill with more practice, talking with experts, reading, etc.).

In the beginning, it may make sense for you to try to improve upon your weaknesses to raise your ceiling. If you’re a business owner or a manager, you should have at least a basic understanding of what you will be asking someone else to do. The best way to gain that understanding is by doing it yourself. But over time, as your daily task list piles up, the best way to grow will be to delegate tasks to qualified, trusted individuals on your team.

How do you know when it’s right to hire someone new? Once you get to the point where your time is almost at capacity (say 80-90%), you need to hire someone to replace you and your weaknesses. Hiring too soon cuts into your profits (if the new hire is getting paid to work 40 hours a week, but really they’re only busy for 25-30 hours, you’re basically paying them to sit around). But hiring too late, when you’re already crunched on time, won’t allow you to properly train the new hire, leading to frustration and decreased productivity in your other tasks.

Before hiring someone though, make sure you develop an Operations Manual to hand to them on day one. This will be used as a reference guide, so they do not always have to ask you the same questions. It also gives them direction and lets them know what to expect, including daily tasks and what we feel are current best practices. It should be communicated to the new hire that the Operations Manual reflects the way we did things when we wrote it, but it should be viewed as a template that is a work in progress. You should always be open to changing specifics (tactics) as you find better ways to achieve your strategic goals.

Having goals is important, but hitting them is not the be all and end all. If your goal is to lose 15 pounds in 3 months, but you “only” lose 14 pounds in that timeframe, did you fail? If you think about it from a black or white (yes or no) perspective, then, yes. You didn’t lose the 15 pounds. But that’s not how you should view it. You lost 14 pounds! You made changes to your lifestyle, overcame obstacles, and you’re healthier because of it.

Don’t get dejected when you don’t hit an arbitrary number. Did you give your best effort? If not, how can you improve your efforts to reach or surpass your next goal? Just because you didn’t reach one milestone doesn’t mean that you should give up.

Do not make too much of the results. Yes, you should look at the results – but that’s only so you can reverse engineer how you obtained those results. Understand how the results came to be and why they are what they are. What efforts and actions did you take to get to the final outcome?Work on improving processes to obtain better results. Are there actions that are repetitive in your daily tasks that you can automate, delegate, or eliminate so they don’t take up your valuable time or brain power? What can you do differently for the next goal? Was there a critical decision that should have been handled in another way or were there many small, subtle changes that you should have made? Focus on the processes, efforts, and actions you took leading to the results, but do not overemphasize the results themselves.

One last note…We should always be seeking to make progress, not perfection. If progress is the goal, succeeding is realistic and motivating. But if perfection is the goal, ultimate success will be unattainable. Nobody is perfect and achieving a goal doesn’t change that fact.

“I don’t want the fear of failure to stop me from doing what I really care about.” – Emma Watson

If you’re unhappy with your job, make a change. Ask yourself what you are interested in and then ask yourself what you are good at. Do those overlap at all? What skills do you have that are a commodity? What is your biggest fear for making a change? Are you afraid that you won’t be capable of performing a particular job – that you might fail?

Think it over before you make the switch. Do you due diligence on what you want to achieve next. Don’t be irrational and leave your current position without having another job lined up. Before you leave, ask yourself if the new place of employment fits with your core values. Talk to people in the position you’re applying for about what it takes to succeed. Ask about what their daily tasks/operations look like. After you gain a better understanding of the job description, do you still want it and do you feel that you’re capable of doing it at a high level? If you need training, will it be readily available for you?

Figure all of this out before making a final decision. Talk it over with your loved ones. But ultimately, you have to listen to your heart. Do not let the fear of failure stop you. Everyone fails at something, but it’s only permanent if you don’t get back up and try again. If something is important to you, if you have a passion for it, you have to find a way to try to do it. When you’re on your deathbed, you can proudly say that you tried to make your dreams a reality. If you make a change and it’s all that you dreamt it to be, that’s awesome. But even if you don’t achieve your goals, or if you achieve them and they’re not all that you expect them to be, at least you will know. You won’t be left wondering, “what if…?” And that is far better than the alternative of not trying.

Lastly, remember that the more focused effort you put into something, the more likely you are to achieve the results you’re looking for. Your actions (plus a little luck) will determine your success. Are you willing to put forth the effort?

Don’t confuse needs with wants. You have actual needs- food, shelter, transportation to/from work, utilities, etc. But within each of those categories, there are varying levels of desirables.

For example, just because you need food, it doesn’t mean you have to eat a gourmet meal or go out to eat every night.

You need a place to live, but that doesn’t mean you should rent a place with state-of-the-art amenities or buy the most expensive house that you’ve been pre-approved for.

Transportation is necessary to get you to work, but as long as it runs, an older car will accomplish the job – you don’t have to buy the newest model luxury vehicle.

We all have necessities, but if you’re in debt, don’t convince yourself that your needs are more than they actually are. When you’re in debt, you don’t get to treat yourself with luxuries. Instead, the best treatment for you is to live below your means to get out of debt, build an emergency fund, then only pay for what you afford. Eventually you’ll be able to purchase higher quality possessions. But understand that when you own something more desirable or valuable, it doesn’t mean that it will bring you happiness. If you only value possessions (instead of health and relationships), those possessions will end up owning you.

1. Say “and,” not “but.”

When you say “and” after listening to someone, or “yes, and…” you are adding to the other person’s idea. You are contributing to their idea(s), not tearing them down. This aligns you with them, making them feel as if you are on their team.

When you say “but” after listening to them, you are about to contradict their idea. You are positioning yourself as their adversary. When you say “but,” they are more likely to get defensive about their idea(s), clinging to them more as if somehow their ideas are tied to their identity.

Try working with the other person. If they truly have an idea that you feel strongly will not work and you have time on your side (ie., it’s not a pressing matter), be tactful in letting them come to the realization that their idea won’t work. Don’t just come out and tell them as soon as they say it. If you do that, they won’t feel listened to. They will feel like you shut down their idea before actually giving it a chance. And if you do this often enough, they will stop coming to you with new ideas because they feel that you fill just shut them down anyways.

If you get the other person to understand and verbalize why their idea won’t work, they are more likely to accept it. Then make sure to thank them for bringing that idea to the table. Encourage them, and they will continue working hard with you.

2. Ask open-ended questions such as who, what, where, when, and how. Limit your use of “why.”

Even though “why” is an open-ended question, it can come off as questioning somebody’s motives. For example, if you ask a person, “why are you wearing that sweater?,” it makes them justify to you why they decided to wear that sweater today. It can make them defensive, which breeds hostility, and can potentially shut down the conversation. If you want to know the reason behind their decisions, use a statement such as, “Help me understand what made you choose to wear that sweater today.” You can even use a softening statement prior to that so they know you’re not coming from a place of negativity. “That sweater looks nice. What made you decide to wear that today?” And if they are still confused by your question/statement, you can follow it up with a menu of options (“was it the color, the texture, or does it hold sentimental value to you?”). Most people will either select one of your choices or come up with their own reason.

3. Avoid extremes like always or never. If you say to a person, “you always do x” or “you never do y,” it comes off as a personal attack on them. How do you think they will feel when you use those words? Using extremes will only make the situation worse. Try to avoid using them.

4. Feel, don’t think.

If you say to a person that their actions make you feel a certain way, they are more likely to be empathetic towards you. If you say that you think something about their actions, it leaves it up for debate as to whether they should have done something differently. They can’t argue with how you feel, but they can argue against what you think.

5. Don’t say “I deserve.”

It’s not only bad for you, but it can make others think less about you as well. Having an “I deserve” attitude is having an entitled attitude. If you’re using this in a debate/argument for why you should get something, realize that it is a really weak argument on your part and will not likely persuade the other party to give in to your wants.