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3 Kind of Challenges and 4 Ways to Overcome Them

There are 3 types of challenges, and this article provide 4 ways to overcome them. Challenge is understood differently. When people think about it, they see a problem. This makes challenge one of the most difficult things to overcome. Nobody can overcome challenges that overwhelms the mind, and adrenaline pumping makes it hard to move ahead. When you run your own business, never make a decision without a cool-head. Because every decision you make with hot-head cost you more than expected.

Start with defining it. Challenge – when it comes to business – also occurs when a company enters the market and specialize on something that makes it superior to others in the same niche. The gap between entering and being superior has different paths. It might be necessary to take one step forward, and two steps backward. It is critical to remember that defining challenge matters.

When you tell your problem to someone else, they’ll give you their insight about what you said, which might worsen the problem. But when you look at it from your perspective, you might realize that it isn’t that bad. For example, when trying to make 500 sales within a month (during startup), and only meet half the goal, then problem automatically emerges. If you tell someone else about it, they might say it proofs business is not profitable.

But there is a gap between what you said and what they understood, and the point they wants to make. Even if you’d tell them about the situation in full, you’d realize that the person might still condemns the business, rather than tell you how to improve it. This is why the critical part of challenge is perspective. When you focus on finding a way to tackle it, everything else gets easier.

If I tell you to quit your business, and you know the best action is to improve and explore a more efficient method, who has the solution? On a daily basis, we must try to find answers. Because most companies normally set a weekly goal. Throughout the week, they will work towards it. They will consistently ask how they are doing in their effort to meet the goal. As the case of 500 sales within a month that has yet to be met, the question is “What is challenging?”

 

3 Kind of Challenges

Three kind of challenges twists the problem. The first one is knowing there is a problem, and don’t know what to do about it. When you don’t know what to do, then the best solution is asking best solution to it. This means feeling lost, and you need to find a path to overcoming it. The second is trickier than the first. Not knowing what you want is a bigger problem. These challenges are not obvious, because it is hard not to know what you are doing. You know what you want.

But it is possible to think you want one thing, when you actually want something else. For example, when you plan to sell through the phone, but under the process, you realize that visiting customers and client is more efficient. Or to first think that the main customers are individuals. But when you started, you realized that your products will better serve small- and medium size companies. It is a substitute of what you want. But what happen when you make changes to the organization to serve those changes?

These are examples of what challenges do when we thought we want something, but realize we want something else. The challenge is switching from one thing to another. The third is most common. You know what you want, but don’t know how to do/get it. These conditions are best, because when you know what you want, but don’t know how to do/get it, then you can find a way to achieve that objective. There are different resources and materials that helps you achieve a goal. This challenge makes goals worthy. Anything is achievable, when we know what we want to do.

4 Ways to Overcome Challenges

Challenges are inevitable in personal and business live. You might consider multiple methods to overcome it. These 4 are based on experiences that have successfully tackle them. But no matter how tough it gets, always remember that your best first-response is to control the challenge.

1.      Don’t be Afraid

There is nothing more problematic than being afraid of challenges. Fear causes more problems than it solve. When you are afraid of something, you might exaggerate it. Fear can be the first reaction. But the most powerful response is to withdraw from the problem, and cool your mind. Instead of fearing it, embrace it. Fear is the greatest enemy when challenges comes your way. First response should be neutralizing it, before you do anything else.

 

2.      Use Your Mindset

Your mindset is among the most challenging aspects to overcome a challenge. Because a mind that already gives up will not consider moving forward with a goal. This is why your mindset must be “what do I have to do to overcome this challenge?” Goals are achievable with a mindset to move forward, despite the challenge. Using mindset include taking control over the situation. Your mind is either controlling the situation, or the challenge is controlling the mind.  When you are controlling the situation, you see a way to move forward.

 

3.      Infiltration

Infiltration is a military strategy against an opponent. But private people and companies use it to find a loophole in the market, and develop the best strategy to do anything that simplify its execution. Ask “how do I infiltrate this challenge?” It means following a simple task that tackles it, which makes the following process easier. One simple infiltrating task will open another section of the challenge overcoming process.

 

4.      Your Greatest Strength

Everyone has a greatest strength. Some people can retain their strength by smiling and joking about the problem. It relaxes the brain, and triggers possible solution. Other people’s strength lies in their ability to look at the big picture, analyze it, and take the best action. When facing challenges, and we know our greatest strength, it can be a powerful weapon against it. This strength is not necessarily just in you, but also in your team.

It is synergizing with the team member that build strength. Imagine what happen when one party is weak, and the other is strong. They can strengthens one another, which makes the working relationship more beneficial. When facing your greatest challenge, rather acknowledge your greatest strength, and use that to find the best way to overcome it.

These four ways can be collaborated, and mixed. You can choose multiple methods to suit your need. In conclusion, how you define challenge is critical to tackling it. Others might have negative effect on how you understand it. But yours must dominate it, due to it collaborating with a negative definition. Then you acknowledge what makes it a challenge. When you know that, it is easier to overcome it and achieve the goal.

There are 4 ways to overcome it. Stop being afraid of it, because it makes you exaggerate it. Another is having a mindset that focuses on “what do I have to do?” about the issue, because it facilitate a solution-oriented mindset. The third is knowing how to infiltrate the challenge. It normally starts with a simple task that cripples the situation, and allows you to follow the process that gradually solve it. The fourth is relying on your strength, because it is the most powerful thing you have against any challenge. These four facilitates how to overcome challenges.

Don't Do Anything

First, let’s introduce a scenario. An acquaintance use a company’s computer to check his mail. One of them include virus, sent by Ransomware that infiltrated all business documents. This is the first time you experience such turbulence. The cryptolocker virus encrypted all documents, and provided instructions for how to decrypt them. This include paying $500 ransom for decrypting the files. The instruction was clear, and you might consider paying the ransom.

When experiencing problems – especially the unexpected ones – a common response is instant action. Negative events are inevitable. There is nothing anyone can do to stop it. But we can strategically mitigate its effect when it occurs. This is why one effective response is “be prepared”. It is an effective boy-scout strategy in all situations.

For example, when all files were “held hostage”, one action that mitigate – or neutralize – such incidence is having multiple backups prior to the infiltration. Backups can be on cloud, USB, memory card, or flash-drive. In the case of ransomware hacking the computer to encrypt all files, one tendency was to immediately act. It is part of the human nature.

Instant action is based on current information. It might be the most prominent action, based on limited data. Following encrypted files scenario, instructions were given before you’d get our files back. Based on such information, you can pay the ransom to get the files back.

However, paying the ransom sounds like a bad business. Because you can’t be sure that the files will be decrypted after ransom was paid. The only thing you know is you paid ransom, which might also led to the files being returned with additional viruses and demands for higher amount after some time.

Why will they do that? Because paying for it once means they can get more after some time. They can just “reactivate” the virus after 5 months, and demand for more money. This is why the first response is to retreat from the problem, and seek answers about it. It is mostly efficient to assess the problem, and see possible scenarios before deciding the best action. It helps to determine best action. When we know what the problem is, then we should strive after understanding it.

Understanding something gives in-depth knowledge that helps allocate focus on something specific that actually get to the root of the problem. Following the case, understand that paying the ransom can worsen the case because they can ask for more money next time. Imagine the possibility of them just encrypting the files again after 5 months, and demand for $1500 because they know you will pay. All they need to do is to embed virus/malware codes in the files that can be remotely activated after 5 months.

All these things can make you ask, “When do I act?” The time to act is when you’d know the best action to tackle current problem. When you don’t just know, but understand it.  They make it easy to choose the problem resolution strategy. For example, if you don’t understand something, then acting will be ineffective because understanding is the key that determine when we should do something. When understanding, you can evaluate different resolution options as explained in “Problem Resolution Formula”, to identify the best action. When you’d know best action, act on it.

In conclusion, people’s tendency to act during a problem is understandable. But it can be expensive to impulsively act in comparison to first step-back from the problem, in order to understand it. It tells the best action for solving it. Best action is after we understand it. When you understand the problem, and evaluate options prior to choosing the best one, then your response will be highly efficient, and problem-solving.

Patience, Additional Key to Success

Have you thought of buying stocks from ALPHABET, Google’s new parent company? Did anyone thought of purchasing stocks from Facebook when it went public? How many people thought of buying stocks from a small company without famous brand or identity?

Some people answers no to these questions. Others regret not acting when they had the chance. For example companies that went public in early 20^th century had a few people purchasing stocks from them. Small investments in such companies then would now worth high return on investment. But considering the time it takes for such investment to yield to maturity, very few people will see the positive future. Because we are mostly driven by current circumstances.

It is the human nature to thrive after instant result from any action or desire. There is nothing wrong about it. But when making investments, it is better to consider serving a purpose. Every investor invests in the business for a specific reason. It can be financial or non-financial. He/she thrives after a specific result.

But in a corporation, purposes are traditionally vision, mission and scopes. These directs it. They are long-term-driven. They defines and drives suitable brand for the enterprise. It allows management to drive the business forward.

For instance, vision, mission and scope makes brand choice easier for a company’s driving power. When the driving power is having products that allow people to socialize, the brand should say we are a company that connect people and communicate in different ways.

A process drives productivity. It is impossible to start certain things and finish them within a day, week, month or even year. For instance, when taking a million dollar loan, we can’t pay it back within a year. Because even if the company has one million dollars profit, it might rather seek to improve than pay back. Because the corporation has a contract for duration of payment. We will only pay back earlier if we have no plan.

Everything we do takes time – from start to finish. Don’t think too much about the time it takes to produce something. Spend the time it requires to achieve the goal, as you follow the process. A path has a process that simplifies its progress, and every one of them should produce something before it progress.

We needs to gather the whole process, and watch them like a hawk. Because they tells you when to take action for a progressive path to success. Someone once said, “We should do it as we supposed to, for it to produce desired result”, because what we do reflects on what we get. This is one reason people believes life is what we make it.

The progress has to result in something specific, which means putting everything in a specific order. And see it moving closer to success. Because if everything was done accordingly and co-ordinate plans with objectives, it facilitates its result. When we have done something as we need to, we see a productive end-result.

When we want results, we must consider possible challenges in the process. Because any success worth achieving make challenges more valuable when deciding best way to proceed when facing challenges. Every challenge needs creativity, strategy and dedication to overcome it.

There is no problem when we see solution in front of us. For example, when you know best solution, will you consider it a problem? Problem without solution leads to frustration. This is why we need to solve problems through influencing it, which eventually solve it. The “Problem Resolution Formula” is a useful technique to solve it.

When we think of how to tackle a challenge, there won’t be a problem. But no matter how many challenges comes your ways, think rather about how to tackles or solve it because “Challenges don’t mean Failure”. I believe you can do it, and you know you can.

You started for a reason. You see opportunities, and challenges are important to make the success worthwhile. Changes are part of the driving power that makes you appreciate success even more. When we work hard for something, it worth more to us. When going through challenges, have patience on the way to success. For example, when you send an application to a government agency, you can’t expect instant result because of the time it takes for agency’s officials to go through the application.

You are patience because you awaits result, which you know will come to you. Some results come within a week, while others takes up to six months or even a year. But you still wait for that result. The same patience work with business. But in a longer term. We know what it takes, and we work towards it, but it doesn’t mean instant result.

That takes some time. Be patience on your way through all challenges. One method is forgetting about the investment, while driving the business. It means investing in the purpose. For example, you wouldn’t purchase a house and sell it the following day with bargain. It is possible, but rare.

However, if you’d forget what you initially invested, and focus on why you did it, you’d get extra energy to achieve the expected result. It is more powerful and define what we invest in. Because we solely focus on why we made the investment. When we forget about it, we give it the time it takes for it to be productive, while following its progress. Because being result-driven make us focus on achieving a specific result, and that has its own process.

Process takes its time, and we can’t afford to rush it. Especially when we have certain objectives in every step of the process. We follows its progress. We can’t expect instant result when parts of the process brings success closer to you, as you’d follow the process of a productive end-result. Through this, we can embrace the result.

Success has different perspectives. When someone is thinking something is crazy, another person sees an opportunity for a new business. We have a distinguish perspective about things.  Most of the time, some people find a business idea a little bit too crazy.

A business has to embrace success through multiple channels (marketing, human resources, leadership and management etc.), because it mostly establish a business. There are others in the business – competitors – that make distinguish strategies necessary to embrace success.

In conclusion, people mostly want instant result. This is problematic to achieve success, because we have to serve a purpose when starting a business and drive it to success. We must give everything we do time to mature or produce something. During this time, we watch the whole process like a hawk. When following the whole process, and done everything we need to do, it will yield desired result.

On the way to success, handle emerging challenges. No matter how many they are, don’t let them go to our heart. Because we have to be patience with everything, from doing something to solving a problem. Our investments takes time to yield positive result, and we have to give it the time it takes to achieve it.

We need to forget about the investment, and focus on why we made the investment. Because it will take time for it to progress. Let success in and embrace it when it comes knocking. Because embracing it simplifies its achievement.

3 Basic Cash Flow

Cash flow helps understand company’s stabilities and instabilities. Positive cash flow mean bonuses that can be shared with stockholders and employees. If the company has lower debts, it can expand or explore other markets. Cash flows tell if the company is getting income or fading away in debts. It follows company’s income and expenses under a short period of time. It is measured in three different ways.

Economic Cycle

Describe company’s incomes, customers, short-term debts and warehouse.

Investment Cycle

It is acquisition of fixed assets and other type of investments.

Financial Cycle

It is about emission, long loans, dividend or amortization of debts

Cash flow is all about addition and subtraction to understand economic-, investment-, and financial-cycle that helps apprehend how the company develops, and its ongoing process. It also helps with knowing whether or not to expect profit in the future. This help comprehends how the company works from a deeper perspective.

The 6 Steps Problem Resolution Formula

Success go through problems because it pass through a lot of hardships that challenge the achiever. The 6 steps problem resolution formula can strengthen success.

1: Ask What?

The beginning of everything – good or bad – is what. Something makes you successful or cause problems on the road. This is why people initially ask “what is the problem?” You can approach the question as you please. But if it involves more than one person, it might be better to ask in a way that indicate you want to solve it. When defining the problem, you can be broad. Some problems are obvious, while others require digging before defining the problem.

For example a customer calling customer service about a product not working is an obvious problem. Analyzing customer service’ response to customers that say customers are waiting ten fifteen minutes before a staff respond to them mean digging to find the problem. How you find the problem can go from while brushing your teeth to going through paperwork. But knowing it simplify its process.

2: Find the Core

Knowledge of the problem is explored to find its core. The core is probably the key to exploring possible solutions. Problems are generally surrounded with circumstances, which make it challenging to find the actual problem. Following the example of customer service response to customers, the core problem cannot be customers discussed their problems for a longer period when contacting the company.

However, it can be flaws in the product that need adjustments. It can also be current size of customer service being too small. Another core problem can be staffs are on lunchbreak when customers needed help the most. Some customers can only call when they are on lunch. When trying to find the core, minimize the problem’s surrounding. This is why most problem-solving experts spend about 90% of their time understanding the problem, and 10% for establishing its solution.

3: Discuss the Problem

Discussion is a method, but it helps to get deeper understanding of the problem. Some people call it brainstorm. Some do it first before defining a problem. But, it is arguable that people brainstorm for a reason. Businessmen and women act for a reason – financial- or nonfinancial – that facilitate action. Following the example about customer service, discussion might led to management discovering that customers mostly call about installation or the product rebooting on its own.

This discussion will help explore resolution beyond the problem. For example, if discussion led to the corporation making changes for customers to easily install their product, then it transfer the problem from customer service to technology department.

4: Delegate

Delegation includes what happen if one solution was applied to the problem. Then it continues until all possible options were explored. It’s critical to remember that expectation might not meet reality.

Following up on the customer service, a delegation can be asking “what happen when focusing on expanding the customer service?”, “what happen if focusing on products’ installation, and purposely make it easier for customers to do the installation themselves?” or “what happen if we adjust staffs’ workhours so customers can reach them when it is comfortable for them?”

A possible adjustment is lunchbreak at 13:00 instead of 12:00.

5: Make a Decision

Decision about resolution can be challenging for managers. But it is still up to the management or board of directors to conclude on an action. Following up on the customer service, decision can’t strategically begin with making it easier for customer to install products. Because of the time it takes to process from technological aspect to distribution.

However, a strategic decision that can instantly take effect is adjusting workhours. It can begin the following day or week. It only involve telling customer service’ staffs, so they can adjust. With time, the company can start process of strengthening the strategy through simplifying for customers to install products on their own.

The decision should be based on finding best solution to the problem. In the overall process, one critical point to remember is that delicate problem needs to be handled delicately when implementing a solution.

6: Execute and Evaluate

Executing the solution (based on the decision) should begin along with evaluating how it is meeting expectation. It facilitate knowledge and time for adjustments. If the solution works, then record the problem, solutions and celebrate.

In conclusion, the problem resolution formula is defining the problem, exploring it to find the core, and discuss it and its impact. Furthermore delegate possible resolution and its transition – from problem to solution – when solving it. Decide and implement the best solution, and remember to be careful when handling delicate problems. Evaluate the solution to see how it is progressing. Finally record the problem, a working solution, and celebrate.

Imposter Syndrome Neutralization is Crucial for First 5 Years

Minimize or eliminate imposter syndrome during the first 5 years in business. It mostly refers to performance in exam and other academic fields. But it also applies to business because you implement and test its vision. What is imposter syndrome? It is a feeling you get when you do well in class, get a job offer, or feel unqualified to own and run a company. The fear of being discovered as someone who lack high performance emerge.

Businessmen/women feel good when implementing their visions. The implementation process enhance enlightenment of required resources that work for bringing the vision to life. Information indicates everything is going well. This include having a fully functioning company that customers can find for their needs. This can take about a month.

The progress leads to effectively operating a company. A progress like this boost confidence. Because its effectiveness allow assessing revenue and expenses. It goes from established vision to implementation, and following sales forecast when executing the plans. We begin to see how projection is fitting into reality.

After about a year, facts indicate that things won’t go well. For example, a well-respected entrepreneur magazine published an article that businesses in similar branch don’t survive two years. This might lead to feeling like it is your true nature emerging. It is why you are not qualified to own and run a business. You see previous successes as luck.

Something accidentally fit into implementing business’ vision. All sales are suddenly based on luck, which is about to change. In all situations, remember that you have not been an imposter. You should not see yourself as one because your productivity made you successful. Lucky means being fortunate. You have been carefully reading the market trend, providing plans and strategies for implementing a vision.

All facts have critics. It is arguable that businesses normally have facts proven wrong. Things like rational arguments or reality proving it wrong are part of the process. It is not your true nature prevailing, but the nature of business that enlightens where things are going wrong. You can remind yourself of what you did right, and where you might have taken shortcut to quickly achieve a goal.

Because shortcut is a possible reason things don’t work out. But imposter syndrome can make you think it is your true nature emerging. Shortcut can be taken due to time limit or other circumstances. This led to a negative result.  But rather ask, “what went wrong?”, and “what went right?” than thinking it’s your true nature emerging.

There are negativities that enlighten where to improve. It is inappropriate to find negativity, and condemn identity. It is mostly appropriate to find where to improve for the business to keep progressing. Every business owner and manager finds downside of the business to improve it. Nobody does it to condemn it.

The best driving power is why you are doing it. In “Failure Doesn't Stop You”, I argued that if you persist with current action, you can achieve success. When something does not fit with plans, remember why you started. Have motivation in the back of your mind. It keeps you going, and shape your entrepreneurial habits.

It comes down to knowing how you process things from idea to execution. This might need a “Success Formula” of your own that simplify achievement. You are successful because reality supported your facts. Throughout your business – from the beginning to the day it dissolve – you can’t argue that your business always has positives experience.

There will be negative experiences. The first five year is crucial to remember that business is successful because of your ability to deal with diversity, ambiguity, and problems. You will survive controllable negative experiences. But it depends on the sunk costs, and their monthly expenses. Negativities enhance your ability to enhance improvements and remain in business.

In conclusion, the imposter syndrome emerge when things go well. People think that their true identity will reveal itself, and success is based on luck. It is crucial to remember that you are not an imposter because facts are true or wrong. It isn’t your true nature prevailing, but some information proven wrong. Think about what you did right, and use any negative event to improve yourself because motivation got you started. Nobody in business will argue that throughout their business, they experienced 100% positive since its establishment. Believe it is you doing it.