Daily Positive Quotes for a Good Day | Because. Strong is beautiful. | By Strong Female Leaders



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By Nan Nan Liu-Maffetone | Strong Female Leaders | Reading Time: Five Minutes

Your life will almost always be filled with uncertainties. You can either feel anxious and defeated or embrace the ambiguity and welcome new possibilities. Of course, we all want to do the ladder but know that it is easier said than done. From grade school to grad school, we've been trained to master many things. Yet few of us have been trained to conquer life's twists and turns. What can you do to stay positive during uncertain times? Scroll down and find out.


How to Stay Positive During Uncertain Times?
1. Reframe the situation.
If the glass is half full, you will never feel desperate for water. To survive an unpredictable world, change your mindset and look for the positive in everything. Fear impairs judgement and decision-making. Instead of letting fear run wild, recognize and contain it by turning anxiety about the unknown into excitemnt for the future.
An action that you can take immediately is to write all positive thoughts in a journal. What are you excited about in the future? What made you smile today? What are you grateful for? Play the numbers game and shoot for 10, 20 or 50 good thoughts. In no time, your fear will dissapear.
2. Find out what you can and cannot control.
Uncertainty can make you feel like you've lost control. However, you've got more handle on things than you realize. You just need to take a deep breath first.
Next, draw a T-shaped table and take stock of what you know versus what you don't know. What you can find out more about versus what you can't quite understand yet. Last, what you can control versus what you cannot control.
Another exercise that you can do is the 10-question method. Reduce ambiguity by asking at least 10 questions, in order to narrow the scope and find clarity in an obscure situation. When you have found enough answers, you will realize that you have more solid information than you thought did.
No one likes the feeling of losing control; but if you focus on thinking logically, you will slowly gain it back and feel a whole lot better.
3. Make a decision and stick with it.
Winners take risks. Instead of asking 100 what-ifs and never move forward, make a decision and go for the win. Of course, you don't want to go about it blindly. Let your personal vision and intrinsic mission drive your decision-making. If what seems like a good idea doesn't lead you to where you want to go, then drop it and onto the next.
Ideas come and go, but the ones that you should execute on are the ones that get the results that you want.
4. Stop dwelling on the problems.
What you focus on is your reality. If you focus on the problems, then your reality will be filled with more problems. However, if you focus on the positive and take action to improve yourself and your situation, all your problems will go away. In spite of uncertainly, focus on making every moment a great one.
5. Trust your instincts.
Above all, you are an intuitive being. You are intelligent, experienced and confident. Even in the face of uncertainty, you know that you will come out ahead. So, if a situation is unclear, trust your gut feeling and embrace the power within. There is nothing that you cannot do if you put your mind to it, so screw the troubles around you and believe in your abilities.
6. Have a plan B.
If you are wrong, you are wrong. You can't avoid making mistakes in life, and especially during uncertain times. To be more efficient and confident, have a plan B so that when mistakes happen, you already know how to correct course. You should never let mistakes get you down. With a plan B, and sometimes C and D as well, you always have a way to move forward.
7. If all else fails, channel an alter ego.
A carefully-planned alter ego allows you to use your imagination to get from where you are to where you want to be. You don't have to become someone else, because an alter ego is just a variation of yourself. And in this variation, you are a positive light in times of uncertainly, and your "super power" is to help yourself and everyone else stay calm, collected and confident during difficult times. Ever heard of the saying "fake it til' you make it?" That's what an alter ego is for.
Parting Thoughts
A leadership mindset enables you to navigate through uncertainties and take the lead in chaos. While the world continues to evolve and grow more complex, you can stay grounded and level-headed by leaning into the storm with confidence, finesse and most importantly, positivity. You cannot predict the future but you can predict that you will prevail in the most arduous situations.

Daily Positive Quotes for a Good Day | Because. Strong is beautiful. | By Strong Female Leaders



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AMAZON FIRE HD 8' TABLET



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Daily Positive Quotes for a Good Day | Because. Strong is beautiful. | By Strong Female Leaders



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AMAZON FIRE HD 8' TABLET



New Apple iPad (10.2-Inch, Wi-Fi, 32GB)


Daily Positive Quotes for a Good Day | Because. Strong is beautiful. | By Strong Female Leaders



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New Apple iPad (10.2-Inch, Wi-Fi, 32GB)


By Freelance Contributor | Strong Female Leaders | Reading Time: Five Minutes

The myth about digital literacy for technical leadership is that you need to know how to code and have a strong technical background. Not entirely true. But you do need to know how to use technology to your advantage. In business, that means to use technology to achieve business goals. So what are some of the things that you should, and should not do, to master digital literacy? Scroll down to find out.


The Dos and Don'ts of Mastering Digital Literacy for Technical Leadership
Do: Learn to Speak Like a Technologist
To collaborate with and lead technologists, it helps to speak like them. You don't have to code, scrum, test software or analyze data, but you do need to understand certain keywords and jargons.
An actionable step is to engage more with the technical teams. Learn how they speak, think and solve problems. If you weren't born a natural technologist, that's okay. Surrounding yourself with technologists will improve your technical proficiency.
Don't: Learn How to Code
As highly sought-after of a skill as coding is, it is not for everyone. You might be tempted to register for an online class or join a bootcamp, but merely learning how to code will not make you a coder. To become prolific at programming, you need practice, as in writing tens and thousands of lines of code. Unless you love doing it, coding isn't for you.
Instead, your time will be better-spent on learning how to leverage the technology that you have to maximize business value, improve user experience and manage technical teams.
Do: Humble Down
When it comes to technology and software, no one can claim to be an expert. There is always a new version, app or tool being released. To keep yourself in the know, humble down and admit what you don't know. But be confident that you are a fast learner and can pick things up quickly.
Don't: Pretent That You Know It All
One of the worst things to do, with both technical and nontechnical teams, is to pretend that you know everything. You don't and you can't, and you are better off being open-minded about learning.
Do: Understand the Holistic View
A skilled technologist gets down to the details but you don't have to. You do, however, need to understand the holistic point of view of how the apps, systems, front and backend components interact with eachother and the business teams. If it seems confusing and overwhelming, then pick one businss process to focus on, and your mind will clear in no time. Follow the data flow and see if it moves smoothly from creation to depracation, or if it gets stuck in a bottle neck. Document the process and entry and exit points along the way, in order to grasp how the systems support eachother.
Don't: Get Hung Up on the Little Things
As specific as engineering problems get, your job is to get things and people to work together and not to fix every little issue. Technologists get paid a lot of money to do what they love doing. Let them handle the specifics. Your job is to make sure that they have what they need in order to work efficiently and effectively.
Do: Focus on Failing Forward
There is no perfect human being and there is no perfect technology. Code will have bugs, machines will break and teams will make mistakes. The best leaders know that failing is inevitable, especially in the technical arena. What's more important is to fail forward and fail fast. So instead of dwelling on mistakes and pointing fingers, it is your duty to ensure that teams learn from past mistakes and continue to improve.
Don't: Give Up
In a fast-paced technical domain, you will often be under pressure. And if you lead technical teams, you will also have to absorb the pressure from business and executive stakeholders, as well as from clients. You will often feel like you're stuck in the middle and because you don't have a background in technology, you will often feel under-qualified. At times, you might even want to give up. Remember that no one is perfect and that technology is one of the most difficult fields. If you must find a different position, then leave on a high. In other words: leave the place better than when you started. Meanwhile, keep up the good work until you have made a positive impact.
Parting Thoughts
In a world that is almost fully digitally transformed, knowing how to effectively use technology is crucial to business success. However, to lead technical teams, you do not need deep technical knowledge and years of experience. Some extra training and engagement will serve you well and help you master digital literacy. Focus on learning concepts instead of skills, and how technologists work instead of what you lack as a technical leader. Finally, quit confusing mastering digital literacy with being an engineer.