Regardless of what you have in mind, it is known fact that your life’s strongest pursuit is that of the realization of your dreams. Your focus is to ensure that you land that dream job or get a promotion, or be successful with your startup business, or simply have a happy family, raise equally successful kids, or be a model citizen in the community. Each one of you is beholden to such challenges. The part when you start to work on the achievement of such goals, however, must start somewhere.

While motivation, personal goals and success are directly correlated, it is imperative to draw out your personal goals before everything. These goals will become your focus to motivate yourself to succeed. Setting personal goals is like turning on a car’s ignition. Motivation, on the other hand, is your way of driving continually and to go through every bump and puddle to ultimately arrive at success, your destination. By correlating these three aspects, you can guarantee facing life’s many challenges without flinching or backtracking.

Personal goals can come in many forms.  It could be academic, career, monetary, physical, creative, or ethical. These goals collectively point to your own domestic goals or how you wish to live life in the future. These personal goals come with two important perspectives—motivation and continuing direction.

To be useful however, experts suggested making your goal-setting SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timed. You need to know exactly what you want to be able to find ways to achieve them. To make sure that you can assess your progress, you need to set certain metrics. Of course, it must be realistic, relevant, and attainable—and to be more effective, a timeline must be set for the achievement of such goals.

But just because you create SMART goals then, that should be enough is a totally erroneous mindset. The world is also moving as you trudge in the realization of those goals. With this, you need to assess and re-assess your personal goals every step of the way. You need to check if such goals are still relevant or if you are still on the right track. In some cases, what you felt was of utmost importance before could no longer be as relevant due to sudden shifts in your life, job or business. If there is a need to rehash, improve or completely change them, then do so.

Goals must be solid enough to be able to move you, stimulate you to carry on, excite you. When these three concepts – goals, motivation and success—are properly aligned, you are definitely on the way for greatness.

Many entrepreneurs, particular startups, are leaning heavily on this dictum. Far beyond feasibility studies and market data watch, entrepreneurial wannabes with no formal business education or no managerial experience whatsoever have to rely on their instinct and survival skills to keep their ideas going. The same people are also known to handle business on their own, directly learning from what is happening on the ground. Hence, the era of learn-on-the-job mentality came into fruition.

Others, however, debate about the effect of the trial-and-error approach to business. These old-school entrepreneurs believe in systemizing and controlling everything. While the concept of systematic entrepreneurship is known to have produced successful ventures, it cannot be denied that some have also veered into the rollercoaster ride of the trial-and-error approach. This is even amid the upsurge of smart data as well as analytics opportunities available for businesses nowadays.

But the trial-and-error learning is a long-time approach used in businesses. While other entrepreneurs may very well deny leaning on this approach, it cannot be refuted that there are just certain matters about running a venture that will push one to try without the aid of data or analytics, or for the sake of knowing if it will work or not. This is precisely the reason why some products and services in the market have to be updated every now and then.

Millennial business startups are also more engaged with the trial-and-error learning approach as they continue to drive for changes in the business arena. Amid their MBAs, extensive market research capabilities, and circle of experienced mentors, these go-getters rely on their gut feeling on various entrepreneurial pursuits. They love to innovate and one way of testing such fresh ideas is to try.

Yes, it is risky. It is not fun noting the fact that one’s whole life savings or credibility is on the line. But like other entrepreneurial geniuses who have tried and failed 99 times and only to hit it big on the 100th time, the concept of trial-and-error is one that can make or break one’s business pursuits. Persistence, it seems, is the very key that can unravel the meat of the matter. Like growing tulips, businesses that engage in trial-and-error plant their ideas on the ground hoping against hope that the chill of winter will not prevent the colorful bulbs from blooming when spring comes.

Indeed, the trial-and-error approach is far from becoming obsolete. Many successful entrepreneurs still live by the tale of trying and learning along the way. The only challenge for many robust businesses is this—how to keep up. It must be noted that the rules kept on changing. By the time an entrepreneur already managed to learn how to run a business, another challenge crops up.  So, it is essential to never stop trying and learning—a never-ending cycle that makes the business arena truly meaningful and exhilarating.

Millennials who want to break free from long-held obsolescence are encouraged to travel to find fresh, innovative ideas in doing business. It would be such a shame to explore in an encased glass when the whole world is beckoning them to partake, to take the plunge. To give you a clearer perspective, here are some of the reasons why today’s millennial populace should put traveling on top of their priorities list.

Millennials can capitalize on their youthful brazenness to conquer their fear of the unknown. Fear makes many promising entrepreneurs and professionals degenerate into oblivion. Allowing these young go-getters from going after what they want without getting scared of stumbling or failing, they can embrace any situation life will throw at them—and eventually find ways to overcome them. Business, career, and life in general are all about taking risks. Traveling to uncharted territories is already a risk in itself allowing millennials to gain courage in taking the plunge over and over again.

Soaring to New Heights

Many unexposed young people tend to settle in whatever is deemed available, easy or profitable even at the absence of originality, creativity or growth. To travel-savvy millennials, settling is a thing of the past. Their exposure to different lifestyles and cultures allow them to expand their views about themselves. Traveling allows them to build a sense of renewed confidence where the one-size-fits-all doctrine no longer held its charm. It carves a new path for them to unleash their prowess from within.

Many of those who do not commit to traveling are virtually leaving in a bubble. It is such a shame as there are so many opportunities that lay in wait for those willing to chase them. Millennials who commit to traveling are being prepared to perform (or outperform others) in the global market. It’s a riot out there and those who have immersed to such variations and differences have a clean grasp on the many avenues that lead to success. Travel around the world. Look for opportunities. Ask questions and learn from them. It is one thing to be competitive and completely another to do so globally.

Communication is an essential aspect of business and career. Travel-savvy millennials exposure to the melting pot of cultures, languages, and personalities allow them a broader view about various situations in life. This helps them easily adapt to varied situations and being able to survive even in the toughest of them. By exposing themselves to different personalities, this also improves their communication skills and narrative style with different audiences.

Yes, there is more to traveling than what meets most millennials eye. Like a learning laboratory, one has to explore the many avenues in life to fully comprehend their significance later on. Traveling is all about millennials immersing in activities that will enhance their growth and competitiveness mindset. It also gives them the courage to look at business or career in different lenses and find success no matter how hard the challenges.

Being promoted can be both a rewarding and daunting experience. People will expect so much from you. Competition in the company will become even more watchful with your every move. Instead of focusing on your nerves, however, there are certain ways which you can demonstrate the reason why you’ve been chosen in the first place. Here’s how to own up your promotion and clearly show what an asset you are:

Without a doubt, one can become a ball of nerves when promoted to a new role. No matter how ready you are, easing your way into bigger responsibilities while maintaining topnotch performance can be an uphill climb. In all these, preparation is the key. Keep both your mind and body at the top of their game to truly make waves in your new role.

Does your current managerial position suck you into a vacuum leaving you with little or no room for personal development? It is quite common for some managers to be overwhelmed. Aside from dealing with the demands of the job, these professionals also have to keep a hawk-eye on their staff or subordinates to ensure that goals or targets are reached. But while some stressful situations wane after a busy season, there are some situations that simply gnaws at them or worst, have no chance of abating in the long term perspective. When this happens, it is important to make necessary win-win solutions so the situation won’t wreak havoc in the workplace and in your personal life.

To get you started, here are some tried-and-tested tips to handle a stressful managerial job.

Learn the subtle yet firm art of delegation. It is deemed a must for managers to know the proper way of sharing work responsibilities particularly on certain aspects that require expertise or experience. Sales prospecting, for instance, can be given to company sales reps while business development representatives can focus on product or competition research. Administrative assistants can go around organizing reports and files as well as in answering emails, phone calls, and customer complaints.

In short, you cannot do it all. As a manager, it is essential that you work not just as a leader but also as a member of the team. Learn the core competencies of each of your team members and assign appropriate tasks to fit their skills and expertise. The first few weeks or months can be an uphill battle, but with time and consistent relationship-building, you can learn to trust the people who works with you.

Achieving work-life balance is a rare commodity among managers. These professionals are often observed to work extended number of hours, with some bringing their work load at home– to the detriment of their personal relationships. Before you come to a breaking point, it is essential to set certain limits or parameters at work.

Try to enforce strict work limits. Discourage work overtime as this will not only wreak havoc to the proverbial work-life balance but also fosters inefficiency. Instill appropriate duty hours for your subordinates and yourself without sacrificing productivity. Lunch breaks must be observed to ensure that everyone has proper nourishment to last them the whole time. Brainstorm or consult with your team in the morning then, do personal work matters in the afternoon. Discourage phone call consultation, but rather make sure everyone goes home with a clean work slate. Always take time to attend to your family to strengthen personal relationship. Taking some R&R every now and then is also highly recommended.

Always take time to gather and give feedback from and to your subordinates, respectively. As a manager, you have the responsibility to inform all employees under your watch. Give and receive constructive criticisms to allow room for growth leading to a more productive workplace. Ask for suggestions on certain matters that challenge the harmonious relationship in a workplace. Foster a collaborative leadership style and positive camaraderie at work. Doing so will help build a workplace environment that’s built on mutual respect and trust.