Work-Life Articles For Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners

4 Ways to Resolve Conflict, the Painless Way

In the office world, miscommunication and conflict are two things that happen frequently. These are two things that are inevitable, seeing as how multiple individuals with different backgrounds, views and personalities are required to come together to work as a single cohesive unit. The small differences in personality and manners are magnified when work styles, work constraints and stress are added into the mistakes. Add in age and cultural differences and you have a breeding ground for misunderstandings in the workplace.

This is precisely why time and resources must be spent for the training and development of employees and managers. Communication training is something that every business owner and professional must seriously look into in order to reap the benefits of a more productive workplace. Conflict is indeed inevitable, but that doesn’t mean you should let it ruin your work environment and cause unneeded stress.

Here are 4 tips to resolve conflict in your work office. If you’re thinking about all undergoing proper communication training, these are great ideas for your workforce to acquaint themselves with.

1.  Complain the Right Way

As tempting as it is to do so, moaning and whining is never a good way to formulate a complaint in the office. Instead of pouting and saying that, you were somehow never allowed to speak at meetings, why not say instead that you believe you were in a position to contribute some good ideas at meetings? Always provide valid reasons behind your complaints and formulate them in a professional manner.

2.  Listen to Others’ Points of View

Misunderstandings are the single biggest culprits when it comes to conflicts in the office, so it only makes sense for us to tell you to listen carefully to what others have to say.

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5 Stress Training Tips to Free Your Mind from Stress

Stress training is something that’s easier said than done. Learning how to manage your stress is a process that’s long and gradual—you don’t have to expect yourself to be good at it from the get go. What you can do however is start conditioning your mind and body in order to be better prepared for stress management training.

Here are 5 tips to do just that.

1.  Get your Fair Share of Exercise

Regular exercise is the one of the best ways to fight stress. Stress has an interesting way of tiring you out. During the day, your body and mind feels tired due to the stressful situations you have to deal with. Come bedtime however, this feeling of tiredness doesn’t translate to immediate sleep—quite the contrary in fact, as stress can also cause insomnia. Exercise allows you to sleep better, and gets your mind off of the daily grind.

2.  Meditate and Go Find your Sensual Experience

Everyone needs to get away from stressful situations. If you feel a panic attack or feel that fatigue is setting in, get away from it all by isolating yourself from the rest of the world. Whether it’s by hitting the spa, going to a quiet room, or simply playing soothing music on your iPod, find a way to meditate. You can supplement the experience by adding sensual factors, such as candles, lighting and more.

3.  Immerse yourself in a Hobby

Hobbies can either be an active activity, such as cycling or sports, or a reflective one, such as writing, reading and poetry. Sometimes, they can even be a mix of both, as is the case with gardening and fish keeping. In any case, just find a hobby you can immerse yourself in and forget about your troubles and worries. Everyone needs a way to get away from it all and get a better perspective of their life.

4.  Have a Laugh

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Time Management And The Pareto Rule

Life can become hectic with schedules changing and tasks to carry out. I know a lot of you can relate out there, especially when it comes to juggling our day to day activities, whether at work or errands for your family and home. This is where time management comes in and having the insight to manage what you do, as well as when to do it, will certainly make life easier.

A lot of times people tend to think that if they do the small tasks first, they are starting off on the right foot. But there are time management experts who say that you should do the opposite. Imagine waking up in the morning and doing the lightest or smallest possible task; what if you have 10 of these ‘little’ tasks to do? You would end up spending the entire day catering to things that aren’t so important. So instead of dealing with time this way, do the opposite by taking care of the heaviest possible task at hand. This is also known as “Swallowing the biggest frog first”.

It may be dreadful, having to face such a big challenge and responsibility at the start of your day, but it will surely pay off. Like they say-going through the hardest, will make everything else seem easy. With this said, I would like to share with you something that I think is very powerful, which is called the Pareto Rule. It has the 80/20 principle, wherein only 20 percent of what you do on a day-to-day basis, actually matters. It is something that should be aware of because it s a general rule of nature that we have cannot find a reason for. It was simply observed in so many systems worldwide, from establishing that 20% of the pods have 80% of the bins to the observation that 20% of the bugs produce 80% from all the software crushes.

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5 Steps To Creating A Successful Workplace

Creating a Successful Workplace
One of the keys to being an effective manager is to have an approach and philosophy that is consistent and visible to your employees. In fact, every business should take the time to establish a management philosophy for all supervisors and managers to follow that will foster a productive and successful working environment.A successful workplace will incorporate the following:

  1. Have goals for management and employees to strive for: Define the desired outcomes for your business/department/workgroup. Ensure the outcomes are measurable and the justification is clear.
  2. Reward results: Try not to focus on the time spent on a project. Instead, reward an employee or team that produces excellent results in a normal workday.
  3. Encourage balance: Many businesses want to be the number one priority of their employees. However, if an employee gives up family, friends or hobbies just to be at work they will burn out quickly. If you encourage balance during normal workloads, your staff will be more likely to put work first when it is really necessary.
  4. Hold your teams accountable: It goes without saying, but treat your employees like adults. Excuses and complacency should never be tolerated. By holding workers accountable, most people will do what is expected of them and either meet or exceed outcomes.
  5. Provide continuous feedback: Many companies function based on annual reviews. However, this is a long period for an employee to go through without knowing how they are doing. Mix positive feedback with areas of improvement all throughout the year. This will give them guidance to continually improve.

   

Let’s take a look at each of the five elements for a successful workplace to gain further insight.

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Content Overload: What We Need is a Storage Jedi

“Pain, suffering, death I feel. Something terrible has happened. Young Skywalker is in pain. Terrible pain” – Yoda, George Lucas Star Wars

Oh come on…give us a break! Yottabytes, Yoda? You thought the same thing when you heard that we’re creating, copying, sending, copying, receiving, copying, archiving stuff. Someone had to invent a new word for all the stored stuff … Yottabyte.

EMC and IDC recently validated what we all already knew.

We’ve streaked right past Moore’s chip law and entered the brave new world of always on…always in touch…always creating…always accessing…always sharing. Seems like only yesterday we were worrying about hanging onto Terabytes, Petabytes, Exabytes.

But by 2020, we’ll have an estimated 35 Zettabytes of stuff to contend with; and then we’ll move to Yottabytes to contend with!

Introducing BBZ – That’s right, in the not to distant future – and in our own galaxy – we’ll be routinely talking about Zettabytes of data. To explain Zettabytes, we’ll simply say it is BBZ … big bunch of zeros. Source – IDC

Our kids don’t worry about it. They just downloaded a few cool videos…just stored a few dozen photos they snapped this past weekend…just downloaded a few research reports they need to use for school…grabbed 20 or 30 great songs they wanted.

More specifically, according to Parks Assoc individuals’ file ownership is:

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Time Management Tips

Do you ever wonder where your workday goes? Well, here are some interesting statistics on the use of time. See how you compare.

According to research, the average person gets one interruption every eight minutes or approximately seven an hour. The average interruption takes five minutes, totaling about four hours, or 50 percent of the average workday. Eighty percent of those interruptions are typically rated as “little or no value”. This creates approximately three hours of wasted time per day. Wow! No wonder everyone feels so time pressured.

It’s obvious that controlling interruptions is critical to making the best use of your time, especially in the sales industry where time literally is money. Why don’t you start by gathering everyone on your team together and discussing interruptions and make a plan on how you can control them in your office?

Maybe you could all agree to put signs on your desk when you need uninterrupted work time, or make an agreement that interruptions would only come at certain times of the day. Some offices have agreed that every morning from nine to ten and every afternoon from three to four is designated as “no interruption” times. Other times are okay for interruptions. Decide what will work for you.

Another interesting statistic on the matter of time use is that 20 percent of the average workday is spent on “crucial” and “important” things, while 80 percent of the average workday is spent on things that have little or no value. Occasionally, we all tend to do the things we “feel like” doing and neglect some things that are more important. That’s one reason why deadlines are so energizing. It makes us have to put that task at the top of the list.

A way around that is to ruthlessly prioritize your “to do” list.

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Align Your Dreams: From Ordinary To Ultra-Ordinary

“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements.” Napoleon Hill

What is your dream? You may want an entirely new job or a significant career change. Maybe you are seeking a promotion, or believe you deserve a raise! Perhaps you desire to start your own business. 

Sometimes you ignore your own dreams because of self-doubt, fear, or external complications. You can think of many different excuses to brush those dreams aside. Your world will become more exciting and you will begin to live a more passionate and meaningful life, if you go after your dreams.

Our media is only too happy to supply us with stories of individuals who overcame tragedy, serious illness, and emotional upheaval to achieve success regardless of these obstacles. Though seemingly an inspiration, these stories also convey a paradoxical message: these miracles are indeed extraordinary and may seem out of the reach of ordinary people.

It is my experience, when I speak with leaders in any field or read biographies, that each finds he is doing what he does because he has a sense of values and purpose that drives him. What do you need in order to have an extraordinary life, miracles each day, and your dreams come true? The first step is to get a rough idea of where you are now, and then begin to develop the vision of where you want to go.  Clarity, focus, strategy and then action are paramount in your life, career, or business.  Most want to start with the action, first.

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Enjoy The Pleasure And Challenges Of Working From Home

Many people are drawn to work from home businesses for their flexibility and unlimited income opportunities. Working from home could be something you could do!

Everyone dreams of working from home and being their own boss. Truly they do. If you asked almost any employee that has worked for many years what their dream job would be, most of them would answer being their own boss or working from home. More and more people are looking for work from home businesses. With economy like it is today and so many people losing jobs they’ve had for most of their adult lives, work from home businesses are looking more and more attractive.

I love working from home. Years ago, I never dreamed I would be one of the many looking for work from home businesses. A few years back I started working from home with my writing. I wrote an eBook and discovered how much I enjoyed writing. That eBook led to more writing until I was spending so much on it that it became my major source of income. Once I quit my “other” job, I began working from home full time. There were many work from home businesses offered online I began finding out.  Because I love writing so much and had a steady list of clients, I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for work from home businesses.

However, because a lot of my writing involved research, I really began learning about working from home and the many work from home businesses that are out there for those willing to learn and put forth some effort and commitment. Some of the work from home businesses I’ve researched that are definitely worth checking out includes:

  • Copywriting
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Blogging
  • Auctions for Pay
  • Paid Surveys
  • Article Writing

As I said above, these are just some of the working from home opportunities I’ve mentioned.

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You Know You Need To Change Your Career When…

You know you need to change your career when …

  1. You fantasize about working in a tollbooth on the M50.
  2. The highlights of the day are tea breaks and lunchtime.
  3. You know you have said all this before but you can’t remember when.
  4. You keep ringing the talking clock because you know the clock at work is slow by a few hours.
  5. You go to work and when you return home you have no memory of what happened in between.
  6. You wonder what the new person at work is so enthusiastic about.
  7. You volunteer to do the photocopying for everyone.
  8. You wish your customers would leave you alone … they always seem to want something.
  9. You pretend to be on the dole when people ask you what you do.
  10. You create a calendar that shows how many days you have until retirement.
  11. You mark off each day on your calendar with a big black marker.
  12. You wonder idly what it would be like to spend time in Mountjoy … and speculate that it really couldn’t be much worse than this job.
  13. You offer to swap jobs with the cleaning staff.
  14. You begin to think about beginning to smoke … at least it gets you out of the office.
  15. You wonder why all the stupid people of the universe congregate in your office.
  16. You spend all week thinking about the weekend and spend most of Sunday dreading going to work.
  17. You consider going to the zoo and hiring a monkey to do your job … you doubt if anyone would notice the difference.
  18. You wonder what sort of deeds you committed in a past life to get saddled with your job, colleagues and boss…and speculate that you were probably Attila the Hun.
  19. You have rung in sick with so many excuses that you are rapidly running out of dead relations and illnesses. You have already tried the Ebola virus and bird flu.

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So You Want To Change Your Career – But You Don’t Know What To Do

You have just had another crap day at work. Some of these indicators may be familiar to you! You are tired and you wonder what went wrong. Everyone told you (family, friends, neighbours, the guy on the toll bridge) that this was a great job with great prospects. Now, you are just tired of it. Tired of the politics, the changing requirements, tired of your boss who always seems to be changing the goal posts?  You want to change careers not just change job. The problem is that you have no idea what you want to do. You have had vague ideas about working in the Third World or doing something to “help” people…whatever that means. There has been so much talk about life purpose...what does that mean anyway? How could you find your life purpose? And will you have to get fired before you do? And does a career change mean that everything you have done up until now is lost? The good news is that there are answers to all these questions.

  • Yes, you can find your life purpose (and there are clues if you look back over your life)
  • No, you don’t have to get fired…but sometimes getting fired or experiencing redundancy is what you need to get on track
  • As for losing everything … nothing is lost. Everything you have done will benefit you, even if it’s only to teach you that you never want to do X again.

Laura Berman Fortgang outlines a powerful 12-step career change plan in her book: Now What? Uncover your Life Blueprint. Here are some of the tools she suggests you use to get back on track.

First of all get really clear about what you hate about your current life.

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Themes, Dreams And Life Story

One of the favored techniques in personal development in adult education is that of the life story. It is often a powerful way for people to connect to long lost dreams and to notice patterns in their life.

What may not be so well known is its power as a way to reveal what you were born to do, what your work blueprint is. Laura Berman Fortgang (in her book Now What? Uncover Your Life Blueprint) describes three tools to use with your life story to elicit meaning from it:

First of all, if you plan to do this exercise, here are some guidelines:   Keep it short (3-4 pages). Write it in bullet points. Also you could group it in some way. Some do it chronologically (5 year intervals). But I have also seen people do it by where they live. Write it over a couple of days and just let yourself remember what you remember (the story you write today is different from the story you would have written 6 months ago).

When you have written the story, read it back and watch for the following:

  1. Driving motivators: These are often old-standing patterns that can keep you stuck. An example of that would be a woman who noticed from her life story that a constant theme was that of checking out. She felt that she could not cope with difficulties at home and school, and would simply withdraw into her own world while conflict and arguments swirled around her. This helped her through, but was now keeping her stuck.
  2. Interrupted Dreams:  This is a dream you may have had as a child, but somehow it got forgotten along the way. It is often linked to creativity and play. I once had a client who had a long history of playing music since he was a small boy but when I read his life story, I was struck by its absence.

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Constructive Tips on How to Cope with Retrenchment

Retrenchment is no longer a dirty word, and in today’s climate a vast majority of the population have been affected by retrenchment at some stage of their working life whether directly or indirectly.

The familiar ‘one job for life’ mantra seems to be a fleeting memory of the days of old while job uncertainty and the constant threat of unemployment teeters on the edge of our minds constantly reminding us each time we’re ‘called’ into a private meeting.

Lets be honest, being retrenched is stressful, especially the first time. It’s a tough road moving from denial to acceptance and while some people manage to go through these stages with relative ease others may take a little more time.

Whether we like it or not retrenchment is something many people may have to face at some stage of their careers. Here are some constructive tips to help you cope with retrenchment if you happen to find yourself in such a situation.

Don’t take it personally
It’s only natural to feel shock and anger, shock that your company is letting you go and anger that you didn’t get to snatch that great stapler on your way out the door. That being said, you have to understand that being made retrenched is not your fault and is not a reflection on you as a person, its just business. Don’t let what happened to you lower your self-esteem and affect your self-confidence as a job does not define what you are worth as a person.

You need to get back on your feet, so share what you are feeling with those around you and recognise that this happened because of the changing economic situation and the retrenchment of workers is one crucial step that many companies must take in order to cut down costs to survive.

Since it has happened, don’t take it too hard.

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Principle

Principles¹ are tools for decision making that bring the moral² basis of decisions into focus. Recognizing the moral context of our decisions must precede any attempt to resolve related difficulties. The failure to recognize the moral context of a decision does not make it morally neutral, it makes it morally unknown and uncontrollable. You can’t control or avoid what you aren’t aware of.

Ethical dilemmas rarely present themselves directly. They tend to sneak up on us. They too often pass us by before we know it. Or they develop so gradually that we only see them in hindsight. Larry Colero says that it is a little like noticing the snake after you’ve been bitten. Principles provide indications that a snake might be present. Principles are like a “snake detector kit.”

But principles don’t only steer us away from what is bad, they also serve to steer us toward what is good. They proscribe and they prescribe as they work to set boundaries or borders. Because people are social beings boundaries and borders are necessary. Without them society would devolve into anarchy and chaos in very short order.

John Carver, the Policy Governance guru, says that “directing an organization can be like rearing a child. Controlling every behavior is a fatiguing and ultimately impossible charge. Inculcating the policies (principles) of life is far more effective and, even if some slippage occurs on individual behaviors, it is the only serviceable approach in the long run.” Carver teaches — and rightly so — that the best principles or policies for an organization should be stated negatively. By proscribing what cannot be done, maximum creative freedom is given to how the organization can be run.

Unfortunately, Carver fails to see that this insight is borrowed from the Bible. The Ten Commandments provide God’s principles for human life.

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Bringing Baggage To The Job Interview

Nobody’s perfect. But nobody wants to hear about your problems and baggage either. Especially in the job interview. Some people’s lives begin to sound like a Soap Opera because there have been so many extenuating circumstances. The following is some advice to handle those tricky situations when interviewing that may be difficult to talk about let alone explain.

Returning To The Workforce After An Extended Absence.

1. Be able to explain why you have decided that now is the time for you to return to the work force – why now?

Have a convincing statement about your goals or intentions of staying in the work force after being away for a period of time – this is best done by scripting and practicing your answer so that you feel confident saying it in the interview.

2. Make sure that you are up-to-date on changes that have occurred in your field in your absence.

This may entail taking a brush up class or course. It is important that you be able to show that you can “hit the ground running,” particularly with so many candidates to choose from in this economy.

3. Do some research, using the internet to discover what is required in the type of position you are seeking.

Job postings are “wish lists” that employers put together in hopes of finding the perfect candidate. Use these postings to see what employers are seeking and make sure that your resume and your interview answers address the employer’s “wishes.”

4. Focus on your strengths – the skills that you have used in the past.

Think of five skills that you consider you do “best.” If your strengths are in sync with the employer’s wish list, emphasize your ability and past experiences using those skills to show that you have “been there and done that” and can do it again.

5.

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Achieving Extraordinary Results: It’s Just a Skill

When you look at all the “superstars” our heroes, the people we emulate we tend to think they are endowed with Super Powers.  They are able to achieve fame, success, fortune due to abilities beyond those that we have been given.  They are simply blessed. 

However, that isn’t the case.  The people who achieve extraordinary results have simply learned how to use a series of skills to achieve their goals. 

Regardless of how vastly different their goals are, they all use basically the same skills.

The wonderful thing about this fact is that if it is just a skill – skills can be learned.  So you and I can Achieve Extraordinary Results, because, it’s just a skill!

In this program I break down the basic skills for goal setting and achievement into 7 tools and 7 rules.

Achieving Extraordinary Results is simple, but not easy.  It seems to me there are three reasons why this is the case for most of us.

First, we live in a society that gives us far too many options.  When we run into resistance we can simply move to something else. We lose sight of the objective.   It is easy to quit without penalty or consequence. 

Second, we have become lazy.  Everyone wants to stand on the platform and receive the gold medal, but few want to actually work for it.  We want the rewards without the work.  Since most of us can get that to some degree, we don’t push ourselves to goal achievement. 

Thirdly, and most importantly,  we really don’t know how to Achieve Extraordinary Results, it is not taught – until now. 

The most important skill that we are missing is the first of the 7 tools and that is how to actually set an achievable Goal. 

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Use This One Tactic and You Will Rise to The Top of Your Profession

Are you looking for a change in your life? Do you feel that you’ve stopped growing as a person? Do you feel that your life and career have stagnated and you’re ready to take them to the next level? Are you dissatisfied with your current position and eager to advance to a happier and more prosperous position?

The only way to survive and rise to the top of the successful career ladder in today’s economic conditions is to become a wise, effective, and unmatched professional who cannot be replaced or laid off. You must be indispensable! You must be independent, in control, and able to find and attract the best possible position for your skill set-so that even if you ARE laid off, you can still fight your way back to success. And the only way to achieve all of that is to CHANGE.

Let’s face it – we all need to change and improve our lives for the better in one way or another. Most people do try their best to improve their lives so that they can have all the things they dream of for themselves and their families. But the fact is that very few people follow the right approach to real change. Some try to develop new habits, some quit their jobs and start their own businesses, some go back to school, some relocate to other countries where they can find higher salaries and better positions.

You might have noticed, however, that although everyone tries to change, only a select few actually succeed in that endeavor and are able to make significant changes and improvements in their lives. Those few lucky people seem to possess some hidden secrets that allow them to effortlessly advance and reach higher levels of success.

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Give Yourself the Gift of Presence

Ask yourself if you have anything to worry about right now? Are you anxious at this moment? Not tomorrow, not an hour ago, now. No, I didn’t think you were. You have just had a taste of being present. If you want to learn how to eliminate stress from your life, to have better relationships with others and most of all, a greater connectedness with yourself…learning to focus on the present is a powerful technique to do so. When I first heard the expression being present, I didn’t know what it meant? But I have discovered since then, that it is one of most powerful distressors you can ever use. It simply means that you give your full attention to the situation or person in front of you right now.

If you ever slow down and check your thought processes you will notice that you probably spend vast amounts of time brooding on the past and maybe even more speculating about the future. This all means that you are not paying attention to the very task or person in front of you that needs to be attended to. If you are obsessed with the past or wondering about the future it is very easy to miss the opportunity, the delight and joy that are right in front of you. Speculation can cause great mental suffering. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, I’ve been through some terrible things in my life….some of which actually happened.

In fact, if you watch your own thought processes, it’s interesting to observe how we can rapidly concoct a whole saga from random incidents. Next time you try on a garment in a shop and it doesn’t fit, watch how your thought processes can rapidly move from “it doesn’t fit” to “I’m fat and ugly” to “No one will ever love me” in the space of milliseconds and the suffering that causes you.

Being present doesn’t mean that you stop wanting to achieve and be ambitious.

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8 Tips to Tackle the Post Holidays Blues

We’ve all had it…two weeks of sun, sand, sangria and whatever you are having yourself. No thoughts of work (unless you are self-employed…and in that case work is rarely far away!). And then here comes Monday again, the dreary routine, same old ding-dong and your heart sinks….” is this it?” you ask yourself. Well, here are some tips to change how you feel after coming back from the holidays.

  1. Admission: Just admit that you feel despondent and squashed after coming back from your holidays. But it will pass. Notice the feeling rather than trying to deny or change it. It is what it is.
  2. Clear the backlog: With the advent of e-mail, voice messaging and technology, the chances are you will have a backlog to clear. Let people know that you have a backlog to clear, and let them know you will deal with their issues when that has been done.
  3. Short week: A good idea is to choose your days so that the first week back is a short one. This will make the transition easier.
  4. Make the change: Often when we are on holidays, we can more clearly see what changes we need to make at work. (That might include looking for a new job!) Identify one small step you can take today to begin implementing that change. Take another small step tomorrow.
  5. Prioritize your self-care: Identify ways in which you can begin to take better care of yourself at work. This could include drinking more water, staying away from toxic people, saying NO more often, having a major declutter of your work area.
  6. Overcome overwhelm: One of the most powerful enemies of feeling calm and delivering good work is feeling overwhelmed. Two ways in which you can tackle overwhelm are: (a) stop, close your eyes and take a rest for 3-5 minutes.

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Kickstart 2009

Why not take some time this year during the quiet days after Christmas to identify what you really want to achieve in 2009? Make it real, concrete, achievable and imagine what it will be like this time next year knowing you have achieved these goals. Use the following points as a way to get ready for a brilliant 2009.

  1. Acknowledge the previous year’s achievements: So few of us take the time to acknowledge and amaze ourselves at how much we have done over the previous 12 months. Take the time to write down what you are proud of, how you have grown, what you have learned, and then read it over. Surprise yourself!
  2. Fewer Goals: Only choose 3-5 goals at the most. If you feel as though there are so many areas of your life where you want to set goals, fine. You can focus on the other areas next year. Choose 3-5 areas where you want to set goals. This is setting yourself up for success.
  3. Make it specific: It’s not much good saying you want to lose weight. If you lost one pound over the year, you have met that goal! No, make it specific (e.g.,  I want to lose 15 lbs and add a deadline.
  4. Benefits of achieving this goal: You need to write down at least three benefits of achieving this goal. Keep it near you so that when you falter, this will keep you going.
  5. Failure is not an option. It’s inevitable.  A Japanese proverb says: “Fall down seven times; stand up eight times.” Of course you are going to slip, make mistakes and not always do what you want. Accept that as the reality. Then, ask yourself how you are going to get back on track. Don’t waste time on beating yourself up, it’s pointless, and will not get you to your goal any quicker. 
  6. Write them down, write them down, write them down.

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Make 2009 the Best Year of Your Career

Yep, folks, it’s that time again – a time to set resolutions which we seem to assume we won’t keep, a time to think about really getting the job of our dreams. Here are some ideas/steps for making 2009 the best year of your career. So, why not take 2-3 hours to think about how you can make 2009 the year of your career. 

Acknowledge the Accomplishments of 2008

Begin by reviewing what really worked for you in 2008. What were your triumphs? What did you do that you were really proud of? Did you get a new account? Increase your sales? Streamline the systems in your job? What did you enjoy doing during the year? Identify the parts of the job that you really got a buzz out of. Write them all down. The chances are you will begin to remember triumphs and achievements that you had forgotten. Acknowledge them. Even if you think you had no triumphs–you survived without getting fired–that counts, as well.

        
Identify Your Strengths – Know What You are Good At

What do you do really well? What do you do so well that it’s effortless for you and you assume any plonker could do it? What do other people give you really positive feedback on? These are some keys to your strengths. Another useful way to identify your own strengths is to take some of the psychometric tests available. Some of the better known ones are: DISC, Myers-Briggs and the Enneagram. Do a google for any of them, and you should be able to do one online free or for a reasonable price. Self-knowledge is a key component of finding your dream career. Knowing what you are not so good at is useful, as well.

Where Can You Contribute? Make the Present Better

Given that it’s unlikely that you will have an invite on Monday morning to your new job, what can you do in the meantime to improve your contribution to your current position.

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