We’ve all got some big challenges to deal with these days: this wacky economy, maintaining cash flow, laying safety nets, building our companies, attracting more business, all while managing to stay sane and tenacious through these trying times.
That’s why we rolled up our sleeves and put ourselves to work on attacking this hairball of issues that literally can make or break your career…not to mention your spirits.

After months of all nighters and brutally long workdays, we’re finally ready to unveil a big new resource to help you find solutions to your biggest personal and professional challenges.

It’s called Fast Track to Success: 30 Days to Transform Your Life & Career.  Jam packed with perspective, inspiration and tips for leaping into action, this new tool is GUARANTEED to make a serious difference for you.  And you can take that to the bank!

How?  Fast Track is an online learning program that you can power through in as little as 30 days, 30 minutes a day.  Every lesson features online posts to read with full audio (read by me!) that you can download and listen to on the go if you’d prefer.  Then, once you’ve learned, it’s time to help you do.  Almost every lesson has a worksheet (or a few) designed to walk you though putting everything into action immediately.

Since this is all about getting to the next level, you’ll see not only your perspective, but outlook and opportunities evolve more and more every day!  We’ve even included a few videos to keep you fired up and opportunities every step of the way to share your thoughts or ask for help or advice from our team.  And again, we’re so confident this can help change your life for the better, we’re willing to guarantee it.  We’ll even send you a hard copy of our New York Times bestseller Secrets of the Young & Successful: How to Get Everything You Want Without Waiting a Lifetime as our gift.

To celebrate the launch of this new program, we’re going to spend the next 30 days sharing some of our best tips and tricks to take on this crazy economy on by storm, increase your opportunities, amp up your competitive advantage, and yes, make more money!

We want to share your best advice too, so keep your eyes peeled and we’ll offer plenty of opportunities on YoungandSuccessful.com, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to share your expertise and experience too!  So stay tuned and help us spread the word about anything you find particularly useful to your friends and colleagues.  We’ll all fare better and find the success we crave and deserve if we bond together and become a force to be reckoned with.

Here’s to all of our success!

As part of YSN.com’s 4 week series about achieving success in your professional and personal relationships, today we’ll focus on finding the love to complete your career/life/love balance.

First of all, it has to be said that at the end of the day, you’re never going to be truly satisfied in a love relationship if you are not happy with yourself in the first place. Treat your time in the single zone as precious opportunity to really get to know who you are, what you want and improve life on your own. It will make adding someone special into the mix easier and can lead to a much sweeter partnership, too.

It also helps to just take a look around and truly appreciate your family, friends, possessions and accomplishments. Being grateful is the easiest way to stop feeling sorry for yourself in the romance department. Write down everything you appreciate in your life and memorize the list.

But if this love-what-you’ve-got notion is making you gag, let me throw in some practical advice to finding your one true love ASAP:

1. Go online — everyone else is doing it! Sign up for eHarmony, PlentyofFish.com, JDate.com (Jewish), Black Planet (African American) Christian Connection (UK) or any other reputable dating site.
2. Cruise Craigslist or any other classified ads, if you are daring.
3. Ask your friends to set you up with their friends, relatives or coworkers. What about their significant other’s friends, relatives or coworkers?
4. Try Speed Dating: Increase your odds by dating as many people as possible in a short amount of time! Check out HurryDate or 8 Minute Dating, and if you are outside the United States, try 25 Dates (Canada) or SpeedDater (UK).
5. Be proactive! Grab the bull by the horns and introduce yourself to as many people as you can! Your best bets include church functions, networking parties and volunteer opportunities, but if you must, bars, grocery stores and coffee shops will do, too.

Jovie Baclayon is a communications associate for the Young Presidents’ Organization and a freelance writer based in Santa Monica, California.

Be Sure to Check Out the Entire Series!

Live By Your Own Rules: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 1)

Get Over It! YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 2)

It’s Time to Find Love: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 3)

It’s all in the Contract: YSN’s Tips for Having it All in Your Career, Life and Love (Part 4)

Truth: Most people never become what they could be. Without a definite purpose or ambition, they cruise along in life, tackling what’s easy with great aplomb, saving what’s difficult for another day that never comes. When obstacles become too tough, too inconvenient or seemingly insurmountable, they give up, then resign themselves to the fact that success wasn’t meant for them.

Obstacles – nasty as they may be – are really nothing more than giants on the road to your goal. Giants pop up to test you, to strengthen you and – more often than not – to make you prove you’re ready for what you want in the first place. (Some people say that giants are a sign that you’re on the right path.)

No matter what you do in life, how you handle giants will ultimately determine how successful you become.

Be warned, however: Giants are clever. They come disguised as a lack of time, funds, education, contacts, resources…you name it. There’s a garden variety to choose from, all giants nonetheless. Perhaps the greatest giant of all is insecurity, i.e., who am I to do that? Don’t allow yourself to get intimated by big projects and paralyzed into inaction. Whenever feelings of doubt of insecurity creep in, recognize it for what it is – fear – and then get out of your own way. (Note: The more giants you tackle, the easier they become to defeat.)

The key to conquering fear is not to try and banish it completely (which is impossible), but to deal with it. Use it. Turn your fear into focus. No matter what the situation, if you take the spotlight off of yourself (how is this going to make me look?) and put it on the task at hand (what would really make this project outstanding?), you’ll have an easier time moving forward.

“Focus is bringing everything you have to what you want and cutting off everything else.”

~Advertising Legend Mary Wells Lawrence

Emily Bennington is the author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. She hosts a popular blog for career newbies at www.professionalstudio365.com and can be found on Twitter @EmilyBennington or via email at ebennington@msn.com.

It’s just a fact of life that some people get past the velvet ropes of business and others don’t. The good news is that if you consistently find yourself on the outside looking in, the only thing preventing you from getting past the gate is your relevance to the gatekeeper. And by gatekeeper, I mean those people you want and/or need to know. Think about that for a second.

Odds are, the people on your list are in a position to help you get something you want. This is because, for the most part, we gravitate towards relationships that bring value to ourselves, i.e., we judge others based on their relevance to us.

Once you understand this, all you have to do is figure out a way to become relevant to the people you’d like to know better. Make them NEED YOU for something, be that an important project, task, or even just a sounding board on their favorite hobby.

Example: Say you’re an entry-level exec trying to make friends on a new job. You learn that Sara in Cubicle D is a travel buff who backpacks through Europe every summer. You spent a semester in Madrid. Ta-da.

Better example: Say you’re an entry-level exec trying to get noticed on a new job. You learn the president of your company is on the Board of the local YMCA. You volunteer for a steering committee. Now, every third Thursday of the month you and the bigwig are partnering on projects from soccer tourneys to scholarship programs.

If your not “getting” as much as you’d like from your career, think about how much you’re giving.

Emily Bennington is the author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. She hosts a popular blog for career newbies at www.professionalstudio365.com and can be found on Twitter @EmilyBennington or via email at ebennington@msn.com.

For many, finding a job or even the thought of searching for the right career can be daunting. We apply ourselves everyday towards success, whether through a test, presentation or performance, but navigating through the job recruitment system takes particular strategy. These other experiences can help you prepare, but when it comes to connecting to a career, there are a few key steps to help you focus and light the fuse.

1. Assess your assets. Between your resume and your personal talents, you have a leg up on your competition in some way or another. It’s time to start thinking about what your propellers are. Think about three major things you can bring to the table, and make sure these key words are visible in your resumes, applications and informational interviews.

If you’re having trouble picking out industries you may enjoy working in, make a list of things you enjoy, and things that you explicitly are not interested in. This creates your pool of interests and your boundary lines. Your major may not necessarily correlate with your interests, and that’s okay. Do you like traveling? If so, look for positions that allow you to move beyond the desk. It’s these simple personal tendencies that can make a big difference in your search.

2. Navigate before driving. Unfortunately, there isn’t a GPS system to acquire the perfect job or internship. So, it’s important to map out your plan of attack. This involves brainstorming and researching. Ask yourself a few questions with a long-term perspective. What do you want out of it? Why do you want this? Do you know enough about the industries you are interested in? Is there anyone in the industry who can give you insight? Dream big and act upon it. It’s scientifically proven that those who approach situations with a can-do attitude actually…can do it!

3. Branch out. While career fairs and career expos are helpful and encourage interpersonal interaction with campus recruiters, it’s also important to take a few paths that aren’t as mass marketed. By funneling through the same channels as everyone else you are increasing your competition, and decreasing your chances of being noticed. Accompany this by finding a unique avenue.

4. Have confidence and keep talking. Once you have researched, planned and taken action, don’t be afraid to peacock your distinctive qualities. The best way to do this and leverage your job candidacy is to network. Networking is valuable at a social, professional and virtual level. You never know the windows that can be opened by just talking to people and sharing stories. Be sure to slip in your career goals, and stay authentic.

Attend networking events and join social networking groups online (Ning, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, InternCircle, etc.) Cultivating a personal network will be key to your future career support. You never know when you are going to need to lean back on your network, so don’t be shy about reaching out and sharing bits and pieces of your professional self.

Article written by Chelsea Prince the founder and Editor-in-Chief of InternCircle.com, the first social networking site for interns and employers, which also serves as a central clearinghouse for internship recruitment. Chelsea operates an advice column for interns at Intern Circle, and contributes weekly advice.