Failure is just an iteration
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motivation. Show all posts
Family Business Saved by the Blog - Careers Articles
Boost Your Mental Capacity with Regular Physical Activity
We all know exercise is good for us, but an active lifestyle can give you all sorts of health benefits. Here's how.
10 Silly Signs You're About to be Fired - Career blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career
This is just for fun, so don't think you're actually going to be fired if any of these happen to you-you're probably just really unpopular. 1) In the latest team/office/department photo, the photographer tells you to stand well away from your colleagues so you can be easily photoshopped out later on.
2) When you ask your boss for advice on what holiday to book this year, she advises a Round-the-World Trip.
3) Your boss turns into a soap opera character-you can tell he wants to tell you something but he just. can't. spit. it. out.
4) This year's Christmas Party has already been booked and it's going to be at an Italian restaurant. Even though the social secretary knows you're allergic to olive oil.
5) Your colleagues are already talking about you in the past tense.
6) Your boss starts talking up the virtues of daytime TV whenever you're in earshot.
7) Someone leaves directions to get to the Job Centre on your desk.
8) Colleagues actually start taking cases from your caseload on the sly instead of you having to slip them into their 'to-do piles' on the sly.
9) Your boss starts buying you lunch every day and telling you to 'save your money'.
10) You walk into your office one day and sit down at your desk when you suddenly notice that Lord Alan Sugar is sitting directly opposite you with his finger in mid-air...
And now for the 'seriously though' bit. Seriously though, if you sense that you're about to be dismissed or made redundant, talk to your boss. It's not about begging to keep your job or dumping the company before it dumps you-it's about communication. Talking things through may give you and your boss a chance to jointly find an alternative to you leaving the company altogether, or it may help you in starting to come to terms with-and planning for-the inevitable. It may even turn out that your fears are unfounded. Of course, if you sense that you're about to be fired and you just don't care or you're even happy about it, then that might be a sign that you're ready for things to change anyway. Again, this doesn't necessarily mean leaving the organisation, even though that may of course be a valid option. It may just mean that you're ready for your role or your hours to be altered. Again, talking things through is the key. Don't just wait in either fear or impatience for the finger to be pointed at you-keep the lines of communication open at all times!
11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination - Stepcase Lifehack
You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.
We are all familiar with the procrastination phenomenon. When we procrastinate, we squander away our free time and put off important tasks we should be doing them till it’s too late. And when it is indeed too late, we panic and wish we got started earlier. The chronic procrastinators I know have spent years of their life looped in this cycle. Delaying, putting off things, slacking, hiding from work, facing work only when it’s unavoidable, then repeating this loop all over again. It’s a bad habit that eats us away and prevents us from achieving greater results in life.
Don’t let procrastination take over your life. Here, I will share my personal steps which I use to overcome procrastination with great success. These 11 steps will definitely apply to you too:
- Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”.For example, I’m currently writing a new book (on How to achieve anything in life). Book writing at its full scale is an enormous project and can be overwhelming. However, when I break it down into phases such as – (1) Research (2) Deciding the topic (3) Creating the outline (4) Drafting the content (5) Writing Chapters #1 to #10, (6) Revision (7) etc, suddenly it seems very manageable. What I do then is to focus on the immediate phase and get it done to my best ability, without thinking about the other phases. When it’s done, I move on to the next.
- Change your environment. Different environments have different impact on our productivity. Look at your work desk and your room. Do they make you want to work or do they make you want to snuggle and sleep? If it’s the latter, you should look into changing your workspace. One thing to note is that an environment that makes us feel inspired before may lose its effect after a period of time. If that’s the case, then it’s time to change things around. Refer to Steps #2 and #3 of 13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity, which talks about revamping your environment and workspace.
- Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines. Having just 1 deadline for your work is like an invitation to procrastinate. That’s because we get the impression that we have time and keep pushing everything back, until it’s too late. Break down your project (see tip #1), then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task. This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date. Your timelines must be robust, too – i.e. if you don’t finish this by today, it’s going to jeopardize everything else you have planned after that. This way it creates the urgency to act. My goals are broken down into monthly, weekly, right down to the daily task lists, and the list is a call to action that I must accomplish this by the specified date, else my goals will be put off.
- Eliminate your procrastination pit-stops. If you are procrastinating a little too much, maybe that’s because you make it easy to procrastinate. Identify your browser bookmarks that take up a lot of your time and shift them into a separate folder that is less accessible. Disable the automatic notification option in your email client. Get rid of the distractions around you. I know some people will out of the way and delete/deactivate their facebook accounts. I think it’s a little drastic/extreme as addressing procrastination is more about being conscious of our actions than counteracting via self-binding methods, but if you feel that’s what’s needed, go for it.
- Hang out with people who inspire you to take action. I’m pretty sure if you spend just 10 minutes talking to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, you’ll be more inspired to act than if you spent the 10 minutes doing nothing. The people we are with influence our behaviors. Of course spending time with Steve Jobs/Bill Gates every day is probably not a feasible method, but the principle applies. Identify the people/friends/colleagues who trigger you – most likely the go-getters and hard workers – and hang out with them more often. Soon you will inculcate their drive and spirit too. As a personal development blogger, I “hang out” with inspiring personal development experts by reading their blogs and corresponding with them regularly via email/social media. It’s communication via new media and it works all the same.
- Get a buddy. Having a companion makes the whole process much more fun. Ideally, your buddy should be someone who has his/her own set of goals. Both of you will hold each other accountable to your goals and plans. While it’s not necessary for both of you to have the same goals, it’ll be even better if that’s the case, so you can learn from each other. I have a good friend whom I talk to regularly, and we always ask each other about our goals and progress in achieving those goals. Needless to say, it spurs us to keep taking action.
- Tell others about your goals. This serves the same function as #6, on a larger scale. Tell all your friends, colleagues, acquaintances and family about your projects. Now whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those projects. For example, sometimes I announce my projects on The Personal Excellence Blog, Twitter and Facebook, and my readers will ask me about them on an ongoing basis. It’s a great way to keep myself accountable to my plans.
- Seek out someone who has already achieved the outcome. What is it you want to accomplish here, and who are the people who have accomplished this already? Go seek them out and connect with them. Seeing living proof that your goals are very well achievable if you take action is one of the best triggers for action.
- Re-clarify your goals. If you have been procrastinating for an extended period of time, it might reflect a misalignment between what you want and what you are currently doing. Often times, we outgrow our goals as we discover more about ourselves, but we don’t change our goals to reflect that. Get away from your work (a short vacation will be good, else just a weekend break will do too) and take some time to regroup yourself. What exactly do you want to achieve? What should you do to get there? What are the steps to take? Does your current work align with that? If not,what can you do about it?
- Stop over-complicating things. Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination. Read more about why perfectionist tendencies can be a bane than a boon: Why Being A Perfectionist May Not Be So Perfect.
- Get a grip and just do it. At the end, it boils down to taking action. You can do all the strategizing, planning and hypothesizing, but if you don’t take action, nothing’s going to happen. Occasionally, I get readers and clients who keep complaining about their situations but they still refuse to take action at the end of the day. Reality check: I have never heard anyone procrastinate their way to success before and I doubt it’s going to change in the near future. Whatever it is you are procrastinating on, if you want to get it done, you need to get a grip on yourself and do it.
Which tips work best for you? Do you have your own personal tip to overcome procrastination? Please share with everyone in the comments section :)
via lifehack.org
Fortune Favors the Bold
My wife absolutely loves Planet Earth. We were watching a segment the other day that featured dolphins who managed to figure out how to hydroplane into water only a few inches deep, catching fish in the shallow water. Large fish had taken refuge from the dolphins in the shallow water, knowing that dolphins need deeper water to swim.
The really interesting thing was that the Planet Earth cameramen actually managed to capture footage of the dolphins figuring out how to hydroplane. There was footage of the dolphins learning how to pick up speed and zoom on top of the water. During a tense moment, it seemed that one of the ballsier dolphins had built up a bit too much speed and had actually hydroplaned onto shore. Just when it looked like the dolphin was going to be stranded, the narrator (David Attenborough) delivered the perfect latin proverb:
“But fortune favors the bold”.
Cue music! At that exact moment a lucky wave crashed in and freed the stranded dolphin. The rest of the footage showed the dolphins using their new talent to catch unsuspecting fish on the shore.
Does Fortune Favor You?
It’s easy to stick in our comfort zones. If you don’t risk anything, you can’t gain anything. The status quo doesn’t inspire. New, fresh ideas aren’t without some sort of risk or pain. It takes major cajones to actually finish an idea. (See my list of tools that have helped me.)
So here’s the question: What are you doing that’s different than everyone else?
How are you innovating? How are you taking a risk to catch the bigger lazy fish, reseting in the shallow water? Sure, there’s always the risk that you could get bottom out and stuck on the shore. But that’s where the big fish are. The risk is what keeps most everyone else away.
The interesting thing about the footage of the dolphins was that only eight out of the large pack were able to figure out how to hydroplane onto the shore. The rest just watched.
It’s stankin’ easy to come up with ideas. We all have ideas. We all even might have good ideas.
It takes something special to actually execute them. Ideas are hard. And they take risk to actually turn them into something tangible.
So if the risk looks too daunting, just remember:
Fortune favors the bold.
via lifedev.net
Living Simplicity - Career advice blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career
Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. Leonardo da Vinci
I’ve noticed as I make my way along life’s path the ability I have, as a result of greater self awareness, increased choice and clarity, to embrace and integrate the concept of less is more in virtually all facets of my life. In my experience, a less is more approach is one’s ability to cut out, do away with, de-clutter, remove chaos and let go of what is not fuelling the fire of their life. This strategy is possible to implement in relation to one’s professional life. Simply, stepping back and taking an objective look at a situation confronting us with greater awareness, choice and clarity (clear desired outcome) is really the essence of simplicity.
I use the example of nature, the beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis. The trees, flowers, grass, birds, wildlife, water, sky, sun, moon, hills and valleys all reflect a less is more approach in the ultra simplistic way that nature presents itself effortlessly every day. There is nothing contrived or complex, purchased, overly manufactured, over done or stressed out about nature. In effect, nature is simply present, evolving and changing daily with the seasons (plus it looks so beautiful).
I recently had the pleasure of watching a BBC documentary about how to live simply. Near the end of the programme, a statement was made which resonated with me. It goes something like this; any fool can overly complicate, it takes a genius to embrace and live simplicity.
If you are in a painful place in relation to your career I encourage you to set yourself free and talk to Position Ignition. Position Ignition Career Guides are available to assist you along your chosen career path based on your needs in whatever direction of travel toward your desired outcome suits you.
Author:
Stephanie Mount is a Position Ignition Career Guide. She is profoundly interested in people and their potential. Stephanie engages with individuals to discover their most authentic self (the positive energy, their passions and strengths). Stephanie’s diverse career in the helping profession spans two continents. She uses her international experience, professional knowledge and living as an expatriate to enable others to create a fulfilling and balanced life. Stephanie is an adventurer, passionate about the ‘great outdoors’ and travelling to far flung places on this beautiful planet.
The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Barefoot Running | Zen Habits
Bare your feet, feel light & free.
‘And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.’ ~Kahlil Gibran
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.
When I first heard about barefoot running, several years ago, I was skeptical — don’t we need cushion to protect us from injuries, and why would I want to run barefoot, anyway?
But several months ago, I read a few influential articles (stemming from the popularity of Christopher McDougall’s book, Born to Run) and decided to give barefoot running a try. Why not?
Today, I’m happy to say I’m a barefoot runner, and I love it.
I’ve given away my Asics, and now I run exclusively with my Vibram Fivefinger KSOs or completely barefoot. I’m running as fast or faster than ever, lighter than ever, injury-free, and I feel connected to the ground I run on. My feet have become stronger, and I feel better. Running was always fun, but now it feels like play!
via zenhabits.net
Discipline Outdoes IQ in the Long Run
Photo by billaday.
The next time you're itching to take a shortcut, it might be worth it to put in some extra time and effort for a better product. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania measured a group of adolescent students. Using a variety of methods including self-reports, teacher reports, and parent reports, they measured the self-discipline of the students in conjunction with their academic performance. Students who were more self-disciplined and were able to delay gratification performed better than their peers who had higher IQs.
Highly self-disciplined adolescents outperformed their more impulsive peers on every academic-performance variable, including report-card grades, standardized achievement-test scores, admission to a competitive high school, and attendance. Self-discipline measured in the fall predicted more variance in each of these outcomes than did IQ, and unlike IQ, self-discipline predicted gains in academic performance over the school year.
It seems that there really is no gain without pain.
Send an email to Erica Ho, the author of this post, at erica@lifehacker.com.
via lifehacker.com
Do you have an unemployed playlist? - Secrets of the Job Hunt Career Podcast
Unemployed or underemployed? Either way, you've probably got more time in your day than the 8 to 5'er who spends 12 hours of their day working and commuting.
If you've followed the tips of many career counselors who've said, "take time out for yourself," you may have found that despite your loathe of the gym, you've become a regular just as a means to get out of the house.
Well, if you hate the gym as much as I do, you need a playlist to motivate you while you're on the treadmill to nowhere---nowhere except to your next job. The perfect playlist can not only motivate you to finish your workout, it can also kick us in the butt and remind us that something better's out there---something better than what we could ever imagine for ourself.
My unemployed playlist includes:
Dreams, Van Halen: "Reach for the golden ring, reach for the sky... spread your wings"
Let it Be, The Beatles: "There will be an answer....let it be."
Suddenly I See, KT Tunsal: "Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be."
I'm Still Standing, Elton John: "I'm still standing better than I ever did, looking like a true survivor."
Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield: "Staring at the blank page before you....reaching for something in the distance so close you can almost taste it."
Fame, Irene Cara: "You ain't the seen the best of me yet... I've got more in me."
Gonna Fly Now, Theme from Rocky: "Training hard now...feeling strong now, won't be long now."
You Can't Always Get What You Want, Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try, you get what you need."
Defying Gravity, Wicked Soundtrack, "I'm through accepting limits because someone says there so, some things I cannot change, but until I try I'll never know."
What's on yours?
Be Courageous, But If You Fail You're Dead to Me
So, I’m having this conversation with a friend recently…
She’s a fairly high-level person at a medium-sized corporation. And she’s relaying how her boss has adopted a rally cry to “be courageous.” Oddly, I’ve heard a near-identical story from a handful of others in different companies over the last 6 months. Probably a sign of the times.
Then, I asked, “what happens if you courageously propose a course of action, courageously execute it, then courageously watch the initiative go down in flames? Will they have your courageous back?
Her answer…”dunno. We’ve never really pushed the conversation that far.”
And, therein lies one of major distinctions between true leaders and those who like to sound like leaders.
Words are nice, but in the context of leadership, they’re just words.
If the people you’re saying them to don’t buy in, they might as well have stayed in your head. Especially if they are words that challenge people to provoke the norm, a move that would normally have grave consequences in the face of provocation followed by failure.
So, if you’re the leader, if you get to create the words that challenge the norm…
Be the first one to step up and risk failure!
Don’t just decree..own what comes out of your mouth.
Prove with your own actions that there’s power, integrity and support behind those words. Mullen CCO, Edward Boches, shared a great example of this in his recent post on a conversation with a Fortune 500 president.
Because if you don’t step up, if you don’t own your words, they’re just another dumb-ass proclamation from someone who everyone else will assume is either soon to be drummed out by the board or beaten into the bonds of the existing culture.
12 Life Lessons from Warren Buffett to Being a More Compassionate Writer | Write to Done
Guest post by Scott Dinsmore of ReadingForYourSuccess
Last week I spent a day with Warren Buffett at his annual meeting. The education was profound, and surprisingly serves to make us all better writers, bloggers and entrepreneurs.
12 Life Lessons from Warren Buffett:
1. Lose money and I will forgive you, but lose even a shred of reputation and I will be ruthless. This has been echoed across the business world for years and it applies to us all. Life is too short to cut corners to make an extra buck. Wealth can always be recreated but reputation takes a lifetime to build and often only a moment to destroy. As Warren says, “we will not trade reputation for money.” In the world of blogging, we are writing because we love it. It’s not for the money. This makes reputation more important than anything. Remember this when you are contemplating rushing to monetize your site by filling it with ads, links, etc.
2. The best defense in a tough economy is to add the most you can to society. Your money can be inflated away but your knowledge and talent cannot. No matter the external circumstances, you are always in control of your talent, learning and passion for life. There will always be opportunities for talent. This is the most empowering thing about web entrepreneurship and blogging. Develop those skills with the constant focus on helping others and you will never be without a job.
3. We get worried when people start to agree with us. The best fruit is found out on the limbs. The road less traveled makes all the difference. Make a rule to always stay on the side of the minority in your life’s path and you will be greatly rewarded. Not to mention it will be magnitudes more exciting. These are exactly the topics that people want to read about. Get a little edgy with your posts. Say something fresh. It will stick with your visitors and they’re likely to come back.
4. We celebrate wealth only when it’s been fairly won and wisely used. The goal is not to make money at all costs. It’s easy to forget that in a lot of industries and sub-cultures around the world where everyone is in constant competition. And this can especially be the case when so many of us spend hours upon hours writing and developing our web services for free. Do not rush it and do not get greedy. Help others and the fruit will be there. Wealth is worthless if you’ve destroyed all your relationships to attain it. Take the high road. It’s far less crowded. A bit sad but often true. Makes it pretty easy to stand out.
5. When you are exceptional you jump off the page. There really isn’t that much competition there. Be your own best competitive advantage. Then it doesn’t make a difference what others are doing. You are in control. In blogging, entrepreneurship and life, there are few people really willing to give it their all. Do this and your supporters will love you for it (they will also likely multiply).
6. Do what you’re passionate about. If you do this, there will be few people competing or running faster than you. The best way to be exceptional is with passion! As Tony Robbins says every day of his life, “Live with Passion!” And trust me, life is a lot more fun this way. I cannot think of a better motivator to get you to write for free and love it, than to jump out of bed dying to teach and help others.
7. I think I developed courage when I learned I could deal with hardship. You need to get your feet wet and get some failure under your belt. Courage does not grow on its own. Just like a muscle, it must be constantly worked out and developed. Life begins outside your comfort zone and that’s where courage is developed. Most people don’t succeed because they’re afraid to fail. Failure isn’t that bad anyway. It will make you tougher and more likely to win the next time around. If I had a dime for every time I heard someone tell me about an idea they wanted to pursue or how much they would like to give blogging a shot, without an ounce of action to follow…well, I might own a few more shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock. No one has succeeded without going through their own failures at some point. To try and to fail is much better than to never try. Why not get started early and get some of them out of the way! What’s the worst that could happen? As big wave surfer Laird Hamilton says “If you’re not falling then you’re not learning.”
8. There’s no better way to be happier than getting your expectations down. Most unhappiness comes from misaligned and unrealistic expectations of life. Expect the world of yourself, but expect nothing of the world. Then you cannot help but live your life pleasantly surprised. When I first started blogging a few years ago, I had these huge aspirations of how quickly I’d have a massive following. When it didn’t happen immediately, it got me down. Write and develop your business online with the expectation of it being a charity project to help others. Anything in addition will be icing on the cake.
9. If the only reason you find for doing something is because others are doing it then that’s not good enough. In fact, if everyone else is writing on a topic, maybe that’s the one best to avoid. Tim Ferriss is a master at evading the majority with his 4-Hour Work Week philosophy. Learn to be comfortable on your own path.
10. Decide early in life to make your money by selling things that you really believe are good for the customers. Make this a rule before you write another word to your readers or offer another product to your customers. Life is too short and your reputation too fragile to not have your audience first and foremost in your mind and in your heart. Rules like this make it very difficult to lose.
11. We’ve done a lot of stupid things but we’ve avoided a small subset of stupidity and that subset is important. It’s about avoiding the dumb things. Warren’s success does not come from doing so many things right. It comes from avoiding the things that are terribly wrong. Some say this is two sides of the same coin. It’s not. It requires a fundamental shift in psychology. The stories are endless of people who did a few things right and were massively successful, but then did something stupid that took them back to zero. Before Warren does anything, he and his partner “invert, always invert.” They list every way imaginable in which they could fail at a particular task and then take massive effort to avoid those failures. Do this for your blog or business and the success will come automatically. Always ask yourself, what would disappoint my readers or customers? Then don’t do it.
12. Go to bed a little wiser than when you woke up. This is the crux of the whole meeting. Life is about learning. If you are always learning you can never lose. Keep this as your only rule for the day and the world will be yours for the taking. There has been no better way for me to continue to add value to my readers and followers than this life maxim. Follow it and you will never run out of posts to write or people to serve.
The lessons from Warren are endless. We all stand to learn to be better people, writers and entrepreneurs from what he’s willing to share. He doesn’t charge any money or ask for anything in return. Except of course that we live a life with a burning desire to learn and do all we can to be valuable additions to society. Keep this as the foremost mission of your business or blog and your time spent will be well rewarded.
Read more action-provoking posts by Scott Dinsmore, a writer, and entrepreneur. You can read more by Scott at Reading For Your Success.
via writetodone.com
It’s Easy to Get Discouraged
Not Rocket Surgery
One repeat criticism of my work is that I’m not telling anyone anything new, that it’s all common sense. That’s actually reasonably true. You don’t spend time with me, read a few lines, and then smack your forehead and say, “I’ve got it!” Most of my ideas are basically reminders for us to do the things we don’t do, but know we should.
I’m okay with this criticism most days, because it’s true. I’m not innovating by creating new methods. I’m innovating by holding us to the standards of treating people like they’re human beings instead of prospects or targets. It’s not rocket surgery, as my Boston friends say.
Don’t Need a Pep Talk
I didn’t write this post to get your kind words of support. To be honest, I’m pretty confident that I’m headed in the right direction. For everyone telling me that I’m not all that interesting, I’m evidently the number 1 uninteresting guy writing about marketing.
What I wrote this piece for was to tell you that it’s easy to look at what you do as uninteresting, or unimportant, or just the same old thing. And maybe there’s some truth to it. If I look out at the top social media blogs right now, a good many of them are covering all the same software applications and a lot of the same stories. Maybe we could all dig a little deeper to innovate more.
But don’t let that stop you, if you’re following a vision, and if you’ve got a sense of where you’re headed.
Michael Jordan worked on the uninteresting task of pushing a ball through a net. Eleanor Roosevelt worked on the uninteresting task of writing articles and visiting people. Mohandas Gandhi worked on the uninteresting task of sitting down and saying no.
Me? I’m a typist. I’m just typing and talking about typing. And I’m not all that discouraged any more.
via chrisbrogan.com
Top 10 Motivation Boosters and Procrastination Killers - Procrastination - Lifehacker
Photo by CarbonNYC.
10. Pick Good Sounds
9. Use Minor Distractions to Fend Off Big Distractions
8. Set a Timer and Crank Until It Beeps
7. Move and Breathe Like You're Excited
6. Make Your To-Do List Doable
5. Don't Check Email for the First Hour of Work
4. Create a Fake Constraint
3. Move Quickly on New Skills and Great Ideas
2. Have a Status Board (of Some Kind)
1. Understand and Overcome Your Fear of Failure
When you've felt completely defeated, or can't seem to focus, how have you snapped yourself out of it? Was it a thinking exercise, a change of scene, or something else? We want to hear about what really worked in the comments.
Send an email to Kevin Purdy, the author of this post, at kevin@lifehacker.com.
via lifehacker.com
Seth's Blog: Where do you find good ideas?
Do you often find ideas that change everything in a windowless conference room, with bottled water on the side table and a circle of critics and skeptics wearing suits looking at you as the clock ticks down to the 60 minutes allocated for this meeting?
If not, then why do you keep looking for them there?
The best ideas come out of the corner of our eye, the edge of our consciousness, in a flash. They are the result of misdirection and random collisions, not a grinding corporate onslaught. And yet we waste billions of dollars in time looking for them where they're not.
A practical tip: buy a big box of real wooden blocks. Write a key factor/asset/strategy on each block in big letters. Play with the blocks. Build concrete things out of non-concrete concepts. Uninvite the devil's advocate, since the devil doesn't need one, he's doing fine.
Have fun. Why not? It works.
5 Daily Goals that Will Dramatically Improve Your Job Search! | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog
Daily planning and daily objectives will make your job search move forward at a better pace. You never know where your best leads will come from so you need to pursue all you can.
Here are five daily goals that will make sure your job search continues to keep gaining ground in that daily uphill battle…
1 – Start each day by charging your batteries! As I tell people often: “Maintaining a positive attitude is one of the most important, and most difficult things to do during a job search.” A positive, optimistic attitude is extremely attractive to potential employers, and helps you keep doing all the things you need to do in your search. However, a positive attitude is easily diminished by the 'hurry up and wait’ nature of the job search process, and the inevitable set-backs.
Zig Ziglar, the well-known motivational speaker and trainer says:
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well neither does bathing - that's why we recommend daily."
First thing each morning read something that gets you in the right frame of mind and gets you excited about the prospects you have before you. Whether it’s scripture, a motivational book, encouraging poetry, an inspiring biography, or whatever else works for you. Do not fill your mind with things that discourage you or bring you down. Things like the news, or some dark novel, or anything else that damages your sense of optimism rather than boosts it. Charge your batteries each day to get off to a good start.
2 – Make 2 new networking contacts. If you make only two new contacts each day; 10 per week; 40 per month, you will quickly build your number of connections to a level that will ultimately lead you to your new job. Certainly you’d like to find new connections at companies you are pursuing. However, you never know who anyone knows! You may find your grandmother’s friends each have children in hiring roles in companies all around your area. Who does your grandma know? You may find connections at companies you are interested in but the connection is not in your field. They are very valuable contacts as well.
Your question to each contact you make shouldn’t be “Do you know of a job opening in my field?”, but rather “Who else do you know that would be worthwhile to talk to?” Your objective is to build a chain of referrals from one person, to the next, to the next until you reach the person that might have the right position for you. Your goal with each contact, is to get at least a couple of additional contacts… to build the next link in your chain. Once you’ve made connections, you can stay in touch with them monthly to continue to build relationships and gain more leads and ideas.
Get at least 2 new contacts each day, and you’ll always have people to call.
3 – Make some kind of connection at one of your target companies. If you haven’t a list already, you should create a list of 10 to 15 target companies. These are companies at which you would most like to find a role. Each day, determine that you will connect in some way to at least one of those companies.
That connection may be a follow up email to someone you know there. It may be a phone call to a new contact that you found through LinkedIn, Twitter, a networking meeting, or from one of your new networking contacts. It may be sending a Thank You to someone else you spoke to recently at that organization. It may be asking for another contact from someone you’ve spoken to at the company before. It may be sending a coffee mug with your resume to someone you’d like to meet with and asking if you might buy them a cup of coffee.
Be creative, be professional, be well prepared, be concise, but be “Pleasantly Persistent” and make at least one contact to a target company each day.
4 – Do something related to your field or industry. As your job search drags on, it is easy to begin feeling out of touch with what is happening in your field or industry. As you interview for a new position, and your resume indicates you’ve been unemployed for an extended period, it becomes an obvious question to the potential employer as well… “Is this person still current?”
If you can show on your resume, and describe in an interview how you’ve made extra efforts to remain ‘plugged-in’, it will go a long way to overcoming any questions they may have.
Find free industry, technical, trade, or User Group meetings, seminars, or presentations. Look into taking a class, reading a book, working on a certification, or creating a group yourself.
In addition to keeping yourself current, most of these venues are excellent opportunities to network with people targeted to your job search. Find something related to the jobs you are pursuing each day and get ‘plugged-in”.
5 – Learn and apply something new for an effective job search. This site and so many others online are tremendous resources for improving your approach in your search. There are books, magazines, job search presentations, webinars, and other avenues to gain ideas and applications to becoming a more effective job hunter.
Learn how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other sites as effectively as possible. Find other tools to help you find contacts, manage your activities, or make effective connections.
Just like most anything else in life, you improve in your results as you continue to learn, practice, and apply new ideas and skills. Learn something new for your job search each day.
If you set out to accomplish these 5 goals each day… your job search will definitely be more productive!
Author:
Harry Urschel has over 20 years experience as a technology recruiter in Minnesota. He currently operates as e-Executives, writes a blog for Job Seekers called The Wise Job Search, and can be found on Twitter as @eExecutives.
Career Transition Confusion? 7 Types of Psychological Motivation | Career Rocketeer
When considering your career needs, you will need to differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is internally driven and comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards. The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task. Extrinsic motivation refers to the tangible rewards you receive from your work such as salary, compensation etc.
The chart below was created for clinical, counseling work. To see the original chart go to http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/motivation/motivate.html However, I have adapted it for use in a career counseling context. I use this chart in client sessions and together we sort through these motivators. Each of us will have different different balance of variables which can make us happy. There isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to career exploration. If you are in career transition, I’d encourage you to explore the relevance and strength of each of these motivators below.
SWOT Analysis of your Competitive Advantage http://tinyurl.com/yzbj8p5
Sources of Motivational Needs
How can each category of needs affect your happiness at work?
Behavioral
• Push vs Pull. Is it your goal to obtain desired, pleasant consequences (rewards, salary, bonus’)? Is it your goal to escape/avoid undesired, unpleasant consequences (angry boss, unhappy customers, failed projects)?
• Are you just running away from your current profession or are you genuinely attracted to a new profession?
Social
• Are there positive role models or people who you can emulate?
• How important is it for you to be a part of a group or a valued member of the work team?
Biological
• How important is your actual work environment: do you prefer a lively or sedate work environment?
• What do you like in your office? Does your décor impact the senses (taste, touch, smell, etc. decrease hunger, thirst, discomfort)?
Cognitive
• In your work tasks, do you like a low key or high stress environment? (ie: book-keeper versus air traffic controller)
• Is it important for you to do meaningful work or to understand why your contribution is important?
• How comfortable are you with uncertainty, changes and/or cognitive disequilibrium?
• Do you enjoy solving problems or making decisions, or would you prefer others do this for you?
• Do you like calculations or figuring something out?
• Do you prefer to eliminate threat or risks?
Affective
• How comfortable are you with conflict (increase/decrease affective dissonance)?
• Are you drawn to activities which increase good feelings?
• Are you drawn to activities which decrease bad feelings?
• Do you need a high level of work security? Do you attempt to decrease any threats to your self-esteem?
• Can you typically, maintain high levels of optimism and enthusiasm?
Conative
• Do you like to choose your own performance goals? Do you like to strive towards company-selected goals?
• Is your career choice related to your dream job?
• Do you strive to develop or maintain self-efficacy at work?
• Do you prefer to take control of your work life?
• Do you prefer to eliminate threats which impede attainment of your dream job?
• How much control would you like others’ to have over your career?
Spiritual
• How does your work relate to your life’s purpose?
• How does your work connect you to your spiritual or religious self?
If you are in a career transition, I'd encourage you to spend some time on accessing your career needs, before diving into a job search. Your career happiness is at stake...
Author:
© 2010 - All Rights Reserved - Sharon B. Cohen, MA, Counseling Psychology, CPRP. Licensed Counselor. Career Counselor and Career Transition Specialist. Atlanta, GA. "Helping business professionals, reach their career potential!"
Complete Archive of my articles My Career Manager http://www.mycareermanager.blogspot.com/
On LinkedIn: "Sharon B. Cohen"
On Twitter: "Mycareermanager"
The Definitive Guide to Sugar | Mark's Daily Apple
You’d think this post would come with a blaring alarm, flashing strobe light or at least an ominous gong. Sugar, after all, gets little welcome around these parts. It’s on one hand a dastardly devil, shameless snare for many a man, woman and child. Beyond this luring, ignoble reputation, however, you’ll find (as is so often the case in life and biology) the story is a bit more complicated – and compelling – than the proverbial black hat. Sugar comes in many forms of course, and each of these leaves a certain amount of damage and destruction in its path. Yet, what do we do when sugar naturally accompanies some of the healthiest fare out there? Do we forgo it altogether when a touch ties an otherwise good Primal recipe together? Are the typical substitutions any better when we choose to use a sweetener? We’ve covered the artificial options in the past, but today I’ll give several natural varieties of sugar their due – the obligatory facts, the practical details and a final Primal analysis.
Why Avoid Sugar?
How could I possibly talk sugar without the warning? If you’ve spent any time around MDA, you likely know the drill. Despite its beloved place (not to mention omnipresence) in our culinary culture, sugar offers the following gifts that keep on giving:
- Sugar stimulates a physiological stressor-reaction cascade that provokes adrenaline and cortisol release and thickens the blood.
- Sugar effectively disables your immune system by impairing white blood cells’ functioning.
- Sugar decreases your body’s production of leptin, a hormone critical for appetite regulation.
- Sugar induces significant oxidative stress in the body.
- Sugar appears to fuel cancer cells. (Check out Free the Animal for much more on the cancer connection.)
- Sugar promotes fat storage and weight gain.
- Sugar disrupts the effective transfer of amino acids to muscle tissue.
- Sugar intake over time spurs insulin resistance, subsequent Type II diabetes and the entire host of related health issues like nerve damage and cardiovascular disease.
Yes, sugar is one insanely powerful drug. Addictive, to boot.
Different Types of Sugar
Public service message aside, let’s get into the nitty-gritty now. Chemically speaking, there are different kinds of sugar. The natural sweeteners and sugary foods we eat contain varying proportions of these. Let’s look at a few of the most common forms.
Glucose
Glucose is the cornerstone of most carbohydrates. It’s a monosaccharide that often combines with and creates other forms of sugar (e.g. sucrose, lactose). In plants, glucose is formed through photosynthesis and stored as starch. In our own bodies, glucose is a precursor for (and product of) glycogen. It’s the common currency of carb-based fuels. In fact, our bodies manufacture glucose (through gluconeogenesis) when our blood levels get too low. Dextrose, a common isomer (same formula, different structure) of glucose, is also referred to as dextroglucose or glucose. Insulin directs glucose processing in the body when blood glucose is already sufficient or high. Glucose supply can be routed to cells throughout the body (e.g. brain cells, red blood cells, etc.) and used right away for energy, or it can be condensed and stored in both the liver and muscle as glycogen for later use. Maltose is a disaccharide joining two glucose molecules. Although it is significantly less sweet (about half of glucose’s sweetness), it is metabolized in the same way glucose is.
Fructose
Then there’s fructose, which is an isomer of glucose. It’s also called crystalline fructose, laevulose/levulose, or fruit sugar. (Crystalline fructose isn’t the same as the manufactured concoction called high fructose corn syrup. We’ll get to that one shortly.)
Some people have a harder time digesting fructose than others. Fructose (in the form of certain fruits, corn syrup, etc.) can cause everything from bloating to diarrhea in these folks. Some experts argue that fructose is a better choice for those with diabetes/insulin resistance because it’s more densely sweet, which encourages people to use less. It also has a lower glycemic value than glucose or sucrose. Indeed, fructose raises insulin less than glucose; however, fructose results in higher ghrelin levels, which boost rather than suppress appetite like insulin does. It also appears to throw off mineral levels (PDF) in the body. Finally, fructose is processed almost solely by the liver. There is some evidence that this concentrated burden on the liver over time can contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The liver’s metabolism of fructose also produces uric acid, a predictor of cardiovascular disease. Fructose appears to be some pretty nasty stuff. For more information on fructose see Dr. Lustig’s video presentation, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, and then follow it up with a counter-perspective from Don Matesz: Paleo Basics: Fact vs. Fiction.
Sucrose
Sucrose is a disaccharide sugar comprised of fructose and glucose in a 1:1 ratio. It’s perhaps the most familiar of the sugars, since sucrose is also known as table sugar. Although it’s found in fruit and other plants (often with varying amounts of free fructose), sugar cane and sugar beets are the most popular sources for commercial production. Given that sucrose contains a large amount of fructose, it shows similar metabolic patterns to the monosaccharide fructose and particularly to high fructose corn syrup, which is commonly blended to an approximate 55% fructose: 45% glucose mixture.
Common Sugar Sweeteners
Now that we’ve covered the basics on the most common sugars, there’s the question of how all this plays out in our everyday choices. Clearly, we want to avoid sugar as a whole, but few of us achieve full sugar abstinence 100% of the time. Consider this run-through a quick and dirty snapshot of common sweeteners that can inform your decision-making.
Glucose Syrup/Corn Syrup
Glucose syrup in this country is usually made from corn, but it can be produced from other starches like potatoes and rice. Chemically speaking, true glucose syrup/corn syrup consists mainly of glucose sugar; however, some companies like Karo add fructose to their products. It’s commonly used as a sweetener plus emulsifier for food items that require a smooth texture like hard candy. Although glucose itself rates a 100 on the glycemic scale, corn syrup generally falls around 75.
HFCS
Like corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is produced from corn starch; however, the manufacturing process deliberately converts a certain percentage of initial glucose into fructose. The two most common HFCS mixtures are HFCS-55 (containing 55% fructose) and HFCS-42, the former typically added to sodas and the latter added to other processed foods. The presence of fructose in HFCS appears to be key behind its myriad of negative health effects. Fructose content not only contributes to liver disease but lowers HDL levels while increasing small, dense (and more dangerous) LDL particles. As mentioned earlier, fructose also doesn’t flip the hormonal satiation switch as glucose does. Finally, the HFCS industry has been haunted by evidence of mercury contamination related to its production techniques.
Table Sugar/Sucrose
As mentioned, table sugar is actually a 1:1 combination of glucose and fructose and is metabolized in much the same way as HFCS. It’s GI measures around 64. One potential advantage of table sugar over HFCS is the absence of risk for mercury contamination.
Fruit Sugar
Even if you’ve sworn off adding sweetener of any kind to any food ever, there’s the question of fruit. Although the PB advises moderation and selectivity for most nutritional bang for the sugar buck, the best Primal fruits offer some of the highest ORAC values you can get from anything. Is it really necessary to swear off even nutritional powerhouses like berries and cherries to avoid their natural sugar content? The picture gets further complicated by the fact that “fruit sugar” doesn’t exist as a consistent chemical formula. Different fruits contain varying ratios of fructose, glucose and sucrose. Higher fructose-containing fruits include apples and pears, mangos and papaya, while relatively lower fructose fruits include cherries, figs, plums, kiwi, fresh and dried apricots, dried prunes and bananas. Keep in mind, however, that lower fructose ratio fruits can be higher in total sugar.
Raw Honey
Honey consists of dextrose and fructose (broken down from sucrose through honey bee’s digestion) in a nearly 1:1 ratio (with other components such as water, wax, nutrients, etc.). Raw honey has a glycemic index of about 30, but processed honey clocks in around 75. Those who have a harder time digesting fructose can often tolerate honey. Although conventional processing destroys much of honey’s natural benefits, raw honey serves up a (many claim therapeutic) dose of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and enzymes.
Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is boiled and refined sap from maple trees. It has a GI of 54 and is low in free fructose but high in the fructose-glucose disaccharide sucrose. Nutritionally speaking, it contains manganese, iron and calcium.
Molasses
Although molasses has a fairly equal fructose-glucose ratio (half in free fructose/free glucose and half in disaccharide sucrose), it offers the nutrients extracted in table sugar production: iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper and zinc.
Agave Nectar
The last few year have marked agave nectar’s time in the sun, so to speak. The sweetener has enjoyed growing popularity for some time, but experts are beginning to question whether agave nectar lives up to its reputation. Agave nectar is often heralded as low on the glycemic index (15), however, processing techniques result in a 75% or more fructose content. Given the increasing strikes against fructose, it’s harder to justify use of a higher fructose sweetener without significant nutritional benefit.
Palm Sugar/Coconut Sugar
An up and coming (in this country) sweetener is coconut sugar. The sugar is actually made from a variety of palm sources, but the palm and coconut labels are used (albeit mistakenly) interchangeably. It’s largely sucrose-based and registers in the 30s/40s on the GI. The taste is relatively light from what I understand, and the nutritional profile is worth noting.
There you go, folks. Information is power when it comes to your health, and I hope this list offered good food for thought. Here’s my analysis. When you are choosing whether/how to include sugars in your Primal diet, I’d suggest paying closest attention to the total sugar content first, then to any nutritional benefits, and finally to the fructose content. Blueberries might have a relatively equal fructose/glucose ratio, but they offer huge antioxidant benefit. On the other hand, dried apricots have a lower fructose ratio, but their overall sugar content dwarfs many fruits ounce for ounce. Raw honey and coconut sugar likewise offer solid nutritional benefit for their sugar content compared to other sweeteners. Of course, any sugar should be used in strict moderation, but it’s clear not all sweeteners are Primally equal.
Encouragement For You
“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.” - Patton
