How to make this year (and every year after) your best year

How to make this year (and every year after) your best yearHow to make this year (and every year after) your best yearExactly 5 years ago, I had a rough time during this time of the year. My career and life felt stuck. I had no idea what to do about it.From the outside, it looked like I was doing well. I had my own business, a decent apartment, and a nice car. But I didnt have any perspective. I still lived in my hometown and frankly, I was bored with my life.Does that sound familiar? You have an okay life, and yet, it doesnt feel right. Its the ultimate challenge of the 21st century. Our lives are safer than ever, and yet, we feel empty.By the end of 2013, my frustration was building up. I started blaming everything and everyone for my lack of growth.Looking back, I must admit that I was very dramatic about my situation. But every person whos ever felt helpless, its thefeelingthat counts. When youfeellike you cant do anything about your life, youwont.And thats what happened to me to o. I felt down - especially during Christmas. I was also single, so that didnt help.On New Years Eve, I went to my parents. And I was being a total party pooper. I didnt feel like doing anything. And when my family tried to help me, I yelled at them to leave me alone. I went to a different room, sat down, and started feeling sorry for myself.My self-talk was something like thisLook at everybody having fun. And Im sitting here like a loser. I hate my life.Shortly after that moment, I snapped out of it. I realized that I was being a crybaby. If you dont like your life situation,you change it.You dont complain. You dont talk. You take matters in your own hand.Set a goal. Work on it with all youve gotI can think of only one way of taking control of your destiny You set a goal and decide to work on it every single day. You wont complain anymora. And you wont stop until you achieve your goal. Then, you set a new goal and repeat the process.Theres nothing more to it. Ive been doing this ev ery year since 2013 - with gradually more success. In 2014, I moved to London and worked for a major IT research firm. In 2015, I published myfirst book. In 2016, I reached almost two million readers. In 2017, I published mysecond book- which has sold more than 15K copies. By the end of 2018, my articles are reaching over half a million peopleeach month.And I appreciate every single reader.Every year was better than the year before. All because I worked on my goals. In the past 5 years, I also became physically stronger, read more than 400 books, bought an apartment and a small office building, built a decent datenbankindex fund portfolio,and still saved roughly 30% of my income.I must say that Im not an exceptional case. Im not a billionaire or particularly gifted. My parents are immigrants, and I grew up in The Netherlands. Im lucky I grew up in a safe country with a good education system. But apart from that, its been all work.What Im trying to say is that every person with rea sonable circumstances can work him/herself into a good position. Whats a good position in life? Heres my definitionYou have developed solid skills that you can build a career on. You have invested in your education and network. Hence, you will not worry about being out of a job. You also earn an above-average income. That gives you more freedom to enjoy life - without stress.And finally, you want a good private life A good relationship with your family, friends you have things in common with, and a partner you love. Even though Im in a relationship, I also think you can be happily single.But to me,ultimate success in your private life means having character. You want to become the person who YOU would want as a spouse, brother, sister, parent, friend.How did you do it?Here are a few things I learned about improving your lifeFirst, setONE goalfor every area of your life.I divide my goals as follows Learning (what skills do I want to improve?), Career (what do I want to achieve in ca reer?), Money (how much do I want to save and earn?), Relationships (what type of person do I want to become?). Set a goal thats ambitious enough but at the same time is also reachable within a year. Aim high. But dont make it impossible for yourself.Second, create a plan.How are you going to achieve your goals?Focus on things you control Basically, yourself.Third, reflect adapt.At the end of every day, look at your goals and reflect on your day. What did you do today that will help you to get closer to your goals? Did you work out?Read a book?Work on your character? Do your work? If not, why? What can you improve? Are there things you might need to change? Track your progress precisely. If things are not working out, adapt.The process is straightforward. The effort,energy, and focus that it requires to pull it off, however, is not. Its not easy to achieve ambitious goals. And we all know why that is. If it was easy, everybody would do it.Decide to be different. Set a goal and actu ally work on it. Year after year, your life will be better. What if you fail to achieve your goals? Dont overthink it Set a new goal. Then, get back to work.Thisarticlefirst appeared on DariusForoux.com.

The college degree of the top-earning CEO in every state

The college degree of the top-earning CEO in every stateThe college degree of the top-earning CEO in every stateWith the likes of fruchtmark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates dropping out of school to start companies, some people have questioned whether a college education is necessary to rise to the top of the business world. But such iconic leaders are the exception, notlage the rule.The vast majority of CEOs in the United States have a bachelors degree. In fact, as we discovered, the highest paid chief executives in every state have college degrees - and 67% of them have graduate degrees, too.How do we know this? Based on data from 2017, we compiled a list of the highest-paid chief executive officers in each state and dug into each of their biographies to learn about their educational background what they studied and where.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreWe then broke their undergr aduate degrees down into six categories that you might find at any college across the country engineering, economics, arts and humanities, sciences, social sciences, and business and finance.Now, while you may think that most of the CEOs received their bachelors degrees from Ivy League schools, we found that only six did, with three having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.Whats more, fewer than half (21) went to private schools 26 CEOs attended public colleges and four attended higher institutions in other countries.The CEOs areas of study range from accounting to religion, but most majored in business (37%) or engineering (22%). The leaders with engineering degrees tend to run energy, medical device, transportation and other companies whose focus require the discipline.We also found that 12% of the CEOs majored in economics, which, of course, is closely related to business. Another 12% studied social sciences two-thirds of whom chose political science and 9% earned a degree in the arts and humanities. Just 2% of the top-earning CEOs studied the natural sciences. Of the chief executives who possess graduate degrees, 74% received a masters in business administration and 16% earned law degrees.In short, it seems that the most common path to the peak of business is, not surprisingly, a business degree (or two). Its certainly not the only route, though. So for those philosophy students with aspirations to run a company and make millions, theres hope for you yetThe college degree of the top earning CEO in every US state, courtesy of Resume.ioYou might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong peopleSourcesSalisbury, I. (2018)This Map Shows the Highest Paid CEO In Every State.time.comThe Associated Press. (2018)The highest-paid CEOs by state.financialpost.comSouthern Company. (2018)Meet Tom, CEO of Southern Company.southerncompany.comGCI. (2018)GCI Executive Team.gci.comSalary.com. (2017)Compensation by Company.salary.comWalmart. (2018)Doug McMillon President and CEO of Walmart.corporate.walmart.comFreeport-McMoRan. 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(2018)Company Overview of Mondelez International.bloomberg.comAnthem. (2018)About Anthem, Inc.antheminc.comMoon, J. (2015)UNC Charlotte ranks high among universities that produce Fortune 500 CEOs.inside.uncc.eduBloomberg. (2018)Thomas Gentile.bloomberg.comBloomberg. (2018)Company Overview of Humana Inc.bloomberg.comBloomberg. (2018)Glen F. Post III.bloomberg.comSarepta Therapeutics. (2018)Senior Leadership.sarepta.comBoardroom Insiders. (2017)Douglas S. Ingram.boardroominsiders.comBloomberg. (2018)Company Overview of Discovery, Inc.bloomberg.comWex. (2018)WEX Executive Team Our Leadership.wexinc.comGeneral Motors. (2018)Leadership.gm.comAmeriprise Financial. (2018)Corporate Leadership -James M. Cracchiolo.ameriprise.comWorld Economic Forum. (2018)People Michael F. Neidorff. weforum.orgSoutheastern Louisiana University. (2015)MBA Lecture Series.southeastern.eduFirst Interstate Bank. (2015)Meet Kevin Riley.firstinterstatebank.comBloomberg. (2018)Kevin Riley.bloomberg.comLendingTree. 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5 common leadership faux pas in business

5 common leadership faux pas in business5 common leadership faux pas in businessAll leadership roles present their challenges, regardless of the industry. Luckily, nowadays there are many avenues to learn how to combat behauptung challenges, from attending online leadership seminars to speaking with other entrepreneurs educating through their struggles and beschlusss via various forms of media. Here are some obstacles I encountered and how I overcame themA lack of constant feedbackWe all seek feedback - its a basic requirement of all humans, from a toddler asking his parents for something, to a team leader asking the CEO about the companys latest business plans.Try offering more feedback to your executive team. As well, ask them for feedback on your leadership, which will help your company tie up many of the proverbial loose ends. I realized the importance of this when I hired a digital absatzwirtschaft firm to help out with building my companys online presence. I was immediately bo mbarded with loads of feedback regarding my websites SEO and how different the business was perceived in other places around the world. This made me think about my own internal feedback strategy and how feedback should go both ways.Being too hands-off or micromanagingYes, team leaders need to give and receive constant feedback, but its their actions that can make or break a leader. Most are either too hands-off, and others micromanage too much. The solution is to find the perfect blend.Being too hands-off can cause confusion, especially if that leader chooses to go his or her own way. This situation may cause some static in the overall business plan. You may think that micromanaging may help keep your idea in focus, but sometimes it needs altering by people you trust. Listen to them, and allow them to also offer their ideas and opinions.Personally, Ive leaned towards being too hands-off, but that blocked some proposed solutions to a few ideas within our overall business plan. When I stepped in, I didnt micromanage - I simply offered solutions that a few team leaders and I agreed upon as being the correct direction. Listen and take criticism, but always be the leader.Not defining goalsThis is huge, especially as a business scales and additional departements are added. Always define the goals for your short- and long-term plans. Each team will have different sets of goals - just make sure they are well defined.As part of my companys weekly business meetings with team leaders, the discussion involves defined goals, both short- and long-term. Make these a part of every discussion going forward.A lack of training and developmentThis one is simple, but grossly overlooked in many businesses - even some of the largest in the world. A lack of training makes things stale, and dissolves development. Whether its daily reading or the ever-popular webinar teaching new sets of skills, make this part of your duty for your leadership positions.Besides having my team leaders study the trends and giants of the travel industry, I also make sure there is monthly training around the latest strategies and developments within their division of the company, from sales to marketing trends. This has helped us further develop our core offerings, helping the long-term goal of easy travel in Africa.Poor time management skillsI left the big one for last Time management is the underlying roots to the success of any company, in both your professional and personal lives. Learn it, live it and teach it.Entrepreneurs need time management on their side to be truly successful, and this should be taught to everyone within your company, from interns to CFOs. Assessing your time management not only helps get your day-to-day duties in order, but it helps in your personal life Every successful entrepreneur knows that a happy work life means a happy home life, and vice versa.When the tactics became overbearing during the startup stages of my company, I began my studies in time management. I participated in a few seminars and read a few books on the subject, and was able to translate those takeaways into my daily work schedule. Only then did daunting tasks appear more feasible, which helped relieve much stress from the daily grind and help me focus on overall strategy. I also educated my executive leadership teams and asked them to do the same with their employees.Regardless of your rank in a company, from manager to director or CEO, leadership challenges will surface. The best way towards resolution is a constant flow of education and learning from other peoples mistakes and successes. These five lessons address some of the most common challenges, which when dissolved, can help your company get to that next level - the one we all seek.This article first appeared on BusinessCollective.