It is natural to relish the good times, and wallow in the bad times. But business, as in life, ebbs and flows. You can't expect everything to go well all of the time, nor feel that the down times will last forever.

I’m guessing everyone reading this article has heard some variation of the word disruption recently. It’s as buzzy a buzzword as you can find right now. Seemingly every business you read about claims to be “disrupting the paradigm” or see themselves as “disruptors changing the way we live.” Inc. Magazine even publishes a list of the 25 most disruptive companies every year

Humans, the old saying goes, are creatures of habit. Some of our habits our productive, while others are less than ideal. Many times, we are prone to attributing our habitual behaviors to external forces, when they are really the product of our internal selves and instinctive response. Believe me, I’ve experienced this for myself. Personally, I have a habit of expressing too much emotion at times I don’t want to, later regretting the way I’ve handled a situation.

Technology allows more people and businesses to operate in an online and off-site environment. Workers like the flexibility and companies enjoy the lower cost and higher productivity of remote offices.

Yet this can create an environment of isolation that workers are sometimes eager to escape from. It's no surprise remote workers--especially millennials who make up more of the offsite workforce--want to attend conferences.

Great business leaders have their individual strengths, but one skill they all share is that they are good communicators. And it often begins with being a good listener. It's not about being polite when conversing with someone, but really listening to what people say. This can make you a much more effective business leader.

Change is hard. It can be messy, challenging, stressful, and worrisome. Despite these hurdles, trying to ignore change is always worse than facing it head on. In our world, a place where technological innovation occurs at an exponential rate, we can try to put our head in the sand pretending things will go back to the way they were, but that’s just not how life works. Embracing change is the only way to carve out a better future for yourself, both professionally and personally.

As I previously wrote, the holidays are for showing your appreciation to your employees and team members. But giving gratitude should not be a one-time event. It should be practiced year-round.

Giving gratitude is the right thing to do no matter what, but from a business perspective it's simply good business. If you make your employees happy then your customers will be happy and that makes your business happy. It also can cut down on expensive turnover and improve morale and productivity.

Everyone strives for that moment when all your hard work and dedication pays off and you can finally sit back and enjoy your work life. Everything gets a little bit easier and you can relish what you have achieved.

Throughout your day when you catch yourself feeling stressed (or worried about how you’re going to deal with the inevitable stress), take a moment to breath and come back to your relaxed state. Remember the feeling of relaxation you were able to achieve when meditating when you need to throughout the day.

When I was a child, my mother placed a plaque above my bed that read, “Don’t tell your daughter to marry a doctor or lawyer. Tell her to be one.”

These three lessons from those who have been there can show you the best way out.

Do you see the person that you are to the outside world or do you see your inner self? Many times we go through life separating who we are in our professional and personal life. We can find ourselves being one type of person at work, a different person with our family, with our friends or even maybe when we are by ourselves.