Archive for the ‘Career’ Category
The Importance of Positive Self Talk
When I think about self-talk I think of that interesting little voice in our heads we hear after certain situations that helps us evaluate and make sense of what has happened. This self-talk can be positive or negative, and, it can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For example, I often have people come to me for advice on how they can get a raise or promotion. Those who come to me with a positive attitude that they are worthy of obtaining a higher salary or promotion are much more likely to accomplish their goal because their self-talk is positive and it reinforces that they can figure out a way to make it happen (thus it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy).
Positive affirmation statements are short statements designed to enhance self-image, help you achieve a secure mental attitude and increase confidence. Take, for example, Muhammed Ali’s affirmation “I am the greatest.” Other examples are:
- “I am prepared and ready to go.”
- “I am relaxed.”
- “I believe in my ability to succeed.”
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How to Improve Your Email Habits
What are some ways to improve e-mailing habits?
Stop ‘reflex’ e-mailing. Too often, we give in to the almost reflexive urge to respond to e-mail immediately, as if we were talking to someone. This is the texting culture invading the workplace, which is an environment that demands better judgment and discretion.
It is not inconsiderate or unprofessional to deliberate before responding to e-mail. Sometimes just waiting 10 to 15 minutes can make a big difference. Except in those rare instances where an urgent response is called for and cannot be made by phone, people should not fire off immediate responses. Stop and think about what you’re sending and whether you need to send an e-mail at all.
Try using the telephone instead of sending an email: Decide if the topic for discussion should be live or via email. You might think a live discussion will take longer than sending an email, but for many topics, a quick telephone call will actually turn out to take less time and will help you avoid playing “email tag.”
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Principles of Effective Leadership
“If women would realize what an influence they have, they would be filled with pride. If men recognized how influential women are, they would be scared to death.”
Every woman can be a leader. Yet results of surveys show that most women greatly underestimate their influence.
The list of principles includes an explanation of why each is a principle and a means for leaders to assess their organization’s current performance on each principle. The self-assessment uses the Baldrige method of ADLI:
- Approach: Your methods are appropriate and effective.
- Deployment: Your approach is understood and utilized wherever appropriate.
- Learning: Your approach has gone through multiple cycles of learning and refinement.
- Integration: Your approach is aligned with the plans and processes in place to achieve your organization’s goals.
How to Balance Your Career and Family
The biggest challenge many of us face is how to balance the demands of family, friends, and career. While we want happy and fulfilling lives outside of work, we have to make personal sacrifices in order to achieve our career aspirations. How do you balance those sacrifices so they don’t greatly interfere with your personal goals? How do you fit roles such as wife, mother, and friend into an already hectic schedule? Since time is precious, keeping a balance between the two worlds can be a challenge. Fortunately, with proper planning, balance is possible.
Set Your Family and Business Goals: I believe the first step to achieving anything important is to begin by identifying your goals. If you have not already done so, pull out a pad of paper and write down your career, marriage and family goals.
Balance Points to Consider
How to Be an Effective Mentor
Mentors are experienced, trusted advisors or counsellors who have successful careers and proven track records. As a mentor, you make a commitment to support and encourage your mentees as they pursue their career goals. Mentors are not usually paid for their services.
Much has been said of the value of seeking out a mentor to guide your career climb. Less often addressed, however, are the steps one might take to become a better mentor. As a woman progresses in her career, she will often find that, without realizing it, she has taken on the role of mentor to others who are only just beginning their career.
Mange your time wisely
As a mentor, it’s easy to lose track of the amount of time you spend working with an individual. While it’s important to be available to your protegee, it’s also important to keep track of your time. They need to learn to problem solve for themselves. There’s nothing wrong with helping them figure out a tough situation, but they shouldn’t become too dependent upon you to approve every decision they make concerning their career.
Motherhood vs Career
Thinking of starting a family, but worried that your hard-won career will suffer? Don’t sweat it – according to the experts, all it takes is a little forward planning.
No matter how much you want to be a parent, after spending thousands on a stellar education and fighting your way up the career ladder, the idea of taking a step out of your industry, even for a few months, can be hard to face. How can you make sure that when and if you’re ready to go back to work, you return on your own terms? Our experts share their ABC strategy.
Some women work to have the best of both worlds—juggling parent-teacher conferences with executive meetings— while others decide to put their careers on hold to focus solely on mommyhood. The decision of when to start a family can be a difficult one for many women who consider how a 9-month pregnacy (which could mean loss of work time, missed business opportunities and health issues) and subsequent parenting responsibilities will affect their career advancement timeline or compromise their seat at the top players’ tables (which are oftentimes dominated by men.)
Benefits of Flight Attendants
Flight attendant can be a rewarding career with many benefits. These benefits are particularly applicable to those who enjoy traveling, as the biggest benefit is the ability t fly cheaply or for free. However, bear in mind that these benefits attract a lot of people, and even though there is a large number of airlines, competition for flight attendant jobs is fierce.
Opportunities to visit other cities and countries
It is you job to serve the passengers on flight until they reach the destination. Then you may have a few days rest in a nice hotel. This is the time to visit the city and become a tourist yourself. The expenses are all paid for, as your airline would normally provide the daily allowances to cater for food, lodging and transportation.
The Truth About Flight Attendant Travel Benefits
Many potential flight attendants wonder about various reduced-rate travel benefits at the ten major airlines. It is very difficult to be specific about the various programs, because they do change quite frequently. However, we will try to give an overall description of the nature of benefits you could expect as a new-hire.
Career Tips For Women
For many women, a fulfilling career is an important part of a healthy life. Here’s a tip on interviewing for a new job. Corporations large and small provide annual reports and company literature that describe some little known aspects of the company. Gather as much information about the company as you can so that you ask intelligent questions during an interview. Chances are you’ll impress the interviewer because you did your homework.
Plan Your Career
Your job takes up a large part of your life. It makes sense to give it as much attention and time as you do when planning other less significant parts of your life (like a new piece of furniture! Truly , we can spend longer than buying a sofa than thinking about our working lives constructively).
Take time out to think about where you want to be, what level you aspire to, how you want your work and home life to be. Listen to the free download (on the right) on this site, talk to friends, use a coach, read a book, research the newspaper ads, do what you need to do to take control and plan your route! Of course, there will be hold ups and delays and occasional fast forwards, but that’s the fun of it. As long as you’re going in roughly the right direction you can be sure you’ll get there in the end!
Women Rise in Corporate Ranks
More and more companies are grooming women for the top executive ranks, The Wall Street Journal reports. With a growing pool of highly qualified women and intensified investor pressure on boards to diversify corporate management teams, companies “are hiring more high-potential women who could be CEO,” says Judith von Seldeneck, head of Diversified Search, a Philadelphia executive-recruitment firm.
Due to flexi working hours, childcare facilities at offices and options of working from home, women professionals are moving up corporate ranks and managing home as well with aplomb.
Comfortable shifts allow mothers to take care of kids and give them an option to spend more time with their family.
Mothers working full-time give themselves slightly “lower ratings” as parents than do at-home mothers or mothers employed part-time.
Women will obtain higher education in greater numbers.
Women now earn more degrees than men, with graduates from all ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups racing past men in rates of completing programs of study. Women aged 25 to 34 are more likely to have a college degree and are more likely than men to go to graduate school.
How to Earn Respect at Work
Respect in the workplace is a nebulous concept: It pertains not only to how workers regard you when walking down the hallways but also how the boss responds to your ideas. What generates respect from co-workers derives from multiple sources including your attitude, openness to others and mutual understanding. Keeping and maintaining respect from others requires developing certain skills.
Here are some of my personal suggestions for earning respect:
Do good work
One of the most obvious ways to earn respect is to do quality work on a regular basis. People respect those who can meet deadlines, solve problems, and make the company look good. In addition, earning respect is often about doing the job “above and beyond the call of duty” which essentially means that people do more than they were asked to do. Granted, going beyond directed parameters may bring a bit of risk if a supervisor did not want a person to do more than was asked, but oftentimes people appreciate extra effort. The key is not to stray too far from the instructions and put the supervisor or the company at risk.
