12 Kickass Ways to Love Your Job

12 Kickass Ways to Love Your Job Just how happy are you at your workplace? No matter how well you do your job, you may not always be appreciated or rewarded for the work you do. You could also face a number of challenges in your workplace such as: Little fulfillment Long hours and tight deadlines Conflicting demands on your time and loyalty Little balance between personal life and work commitments Strained relationships with the important people in your life Lack of any say at work Internal politics and a rigid company structure Bullying within the workplace Few promotional opportunities So just how do you cope? At the end of the day, you want to be involved in fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable, get recognition and promotion for your efforts, and be appreciated for the work you do. But at the same time, want a balanced life with time for the things you really want to do with a full and interesting social life. Of course, you want to have clarity about your career, job duties and you want to continue to be healthy, fit and stress-free. It seems a lot to ask for and the key to resolving these seemingly conflicting challenges is to get clear about just how much you love the work you do? Is what you do for work make you jump out of bed every morning? Or would you rather be doing something else? No matter how good things are in other parts of your life such as family, social life and relationships, work is a major part of your life, and not to be neglected. Since for now, you have chosen to be in the job you are in, it is up to you for the time being to make the most of what you do. Of course in the long term, you can either change your job or even embark on a new career. But for now, you can get to love more of what you do right now. Assuming that in the short term you are not able to change jobs, there are a number of things you can do to begin enjoying more of what you currently do. Ask yourself is it the job or is it you? And what can you do to make your current work more enjoyable? Stop acting the victim. YOU are responsible for your life and if you can’t immediately change the job you are in, then it is up to you to make the most of it. Here are 12 tips to enjoy more your current job. 1. Get motivated to face the day On the way to your workplace, think of how the work you have allows you to have your life outside of it, such as a great social life. A positive attitude will make the day more pleasant and productive. 2. Keep your work in perspective You can only do the best you can in each situation. Look beyond yourself and your work, and consider the bigger picture. Do some voluntary work to gain a broader outlook. Find a way to contribute to society in general. 3. You are more than your work Do not have your identity too strongly tied to the job you do. Give up thinking that your work life “should” be a certain way. Such expectations of what you were supposed to be, as set by your parents and teachers, stop you from enjoying what you currently do. 4. Plan your time and create a to-do list In this list, include long-term projects as well as the more imminent things that need doing. Prioritise your to-do list do the most important things first. When performing any task, ask yourself is this the best use of my time? Schedule in enough time for your studies etc. 5. Concentrate on the task at hand Do not let yourself be distracted by worrying about all the other things to be done or losing energy over the undesirable situation you find yourself in. Stay in the moment. Be ruthless and take care of a task before it gets on a possible procrastination list. For example, sort your morning post immediately in one go â€" open it, file it, act on it or bin it there and then. 6. Be clear about whats expected of you Clarify immediately, any time you are not sure or where you are faced with conflicting demands. The more clear and upfront you are with your manager and the other people you work with, the better it will be for you in the long term. 7. Delegate wherever appropriate Decide if there is anything that can be delegated, or that more fairly belongs to someone elses workload. Always remember the “3D” rule â€" do it, dump it or delegate it never handle a piece of paper twice. 8. Have regular breaks Get away from your normal workplace even if only for five minutes. Try taking a break from the laptop, emails and do leave the mobile behind. Make sure that you do have that lunch break â€" it is not just for food but also for fresh air and a mental break. Eat a healthy lunch and if you must snack, make sure it is healthy too â€" an apple rather than a bag of crisps. Look for ways of energising yourself, other than from adrenaline and caffeine. 9. Learn to relax No matter how challenging the work gets or how demanding your bosses become, it, at the end of the day it is only a job and you are much more than that. In years to come, you will look back and wonder what the fuss was. 10. Make your workplace more pleasant Contribute towards creating a pleasant work environment. Do not gossip in the office as it just creates negativity all around. Do not listen to any gossip either. Minimise your time with people that you do not resonate with or like. Learn to have more fun at work. Laugh more and chill out. Perform with a more fun orientated approach. 11. Review your day before you leave for home Look at what worked well, and what could be improved the next day. If you feel satisfied with the day’s work, then why not reward yourself later that day. You deserve it. 12. Switch off once you leave work You are already at work a third of your time, so do not continue to keep it buzzing in your head during your supposed free time. Mentally say goodbye to your workspace the moment you leave for home. See your work as a game. Life is meant to be fun and if you are going to spend a third of it at work, you might as well enjoy the game. Enjoy your work and if it comes down to it, you can always find something better in the medium to long-term. Related: Live Happier by Doing What You Love: Why You Should Change Careers. Arvind Devalia is a writer, blogger, life coach and social entrepreneur living in a leafy part of central London. Arvind was born in Kenya, his heritage is Indian and he has lived in the UK for over 20 years. A true citizen of the world.  

Sample Writing Resume - A Good Idea Before You Buy

Sample Writing Resume - A Good Idea Before You BuyHow much should a sample writing resume be? In truth, a sample is better than none at all. You could be the type of writer who writes well on their own but for that you need to have some experience or background. There are many resume examples available online but it's important to be able to assess and judge these examples yourself as the resumes that are posted are designed to be similar to what you need.Having said that, you still need to be able to assess the resume for a good quality. Most resumes that are hired for an opening will be for part time or temporary work. You will find that a lot of samples that you find online are from someone who has recently graduated from college or university and is now looking for full time employment.You will want to make sure that the resume has some form of recent employment that is current. You should always do your research before you hire anyone. If they have an empty page that has their n ame at the top, they probably want the position that is paid more and has more responsibility.You should be able to identify a sample writing resume from the information that you will be receiving. Your goal is to get a resume that you feel will be perfect for your position and you should look for one that matches your skills and experience. This can take some time to do but it's worth it in the end.It's important to think about the format of the writing resume when you are trying to find it. It's important to know if the resume you are reading is a sample that has been used by others or whether it is something that has been customized for your particular needs. It's also possible that a sample has been used as a template for others but that the information is slightly different. You should be able to find some information online that describes how each resume was formatted and if it has been customized or not. Try to choose a resume that will look good on the computer screen, espec ially if the prospective employer has requested that you do so. This is important because you want to have a resume that the person looking at can use quickly. Remember that there are thousands of samples available online so it's a good idea to be able to find one that will look great on your computer screen before you buy it.It's important to find a resume that has your name on it and that matches exactly what you need. It's also best to have a look at the sample that is available and find out what the main points are. This will help you determine which are the key points that you should be focusing on.Although it may seem like you have to pay to be able to get a sample writing resume, you should really be able to get one for free if you take the time to do your research. The money that you spend should be paying for the work that you have done.

Championship Results In Small Business Easy To Achieve - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Championship Results In Small Business Easy To Achieve - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career April is time when there is a lot of focus on championships in the athletic world in the United States. When the Major League Baseball season began a couple of weeks ago every team was in first place with equal visions of winning the World Series Championship. That same week the NCAA Mens and Womens Basketball Champions were crowned. In mid-April the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association playoff tournaments begin to crown those leagues respective champions. The only thing certain in pursuing a championship in athletic competition is how that championship is defined. Everything else on the journey towards that championship is steeped in uncertainty. Winning a championship takes hard work, much harder work with even more focus and intensity than achieving great results during the regular season. Plus, it takes some luck regarding key players staying healthy and getting some bounces to go your way. Often, the odds-on favorite to win the championship gets disappointed. This year the Kentucky Wildcats mens basketball team lost in the NCAA Final Four semi-finals, ending their undefeated season knocking them out of the single elimination tournament. Winning a championship by being the last team standing at the end of a long season and long playoff tournament is extremely difficult to achieve. Yet, it can be argued that sustained championship caliber performance occurs by many teams along the journey, until they face a more talented, focused, and committed opponent, or a bounce at a key moment goes the other way. But, for the fate of the coaches paid to win a championship, getting close, finishing second often just isnt good enough. The good news for small business leaders wanting to generate high-performance results leading to greater productivity and profits for their companies, achieving championship caliber performance is much easier to achieve. Unless there is a strong need to dominate the marketplace in a product category, small businesses need not worry about competing with another company offering similar products. All any small business leader needs to worry about it is competing with themselves. Leaders of small businesses should be developing company strategies to define championship caliber performance as being better than previous performance, by practicing constant and never-ending improvement in specific, measurable ways. When a small business defines their championship vision in those terms they cant lose, theyll win their championship every year. That is why it is easier to achieve championship level results in small business than it is in athletics. The competition is simply about being the best you can be. The key is for the small business leader and other team members to be honest with themselves and measure appropriately.

Best alternative to grad school

Best alternative to grad school Ive spent three years writing about how graduate school is a waste of time and money (yes, business school and law school too). So now when radio and TV producers need someone to bitch about graduate school, they call me. Here I am on NPR today. I dont usually post my interviews, but this one is notable because I completely lost patience for people still defending grad school. Its so clear, even to defenders of grad school, that grad school is a bad financial decision, that this guy has resorted to saying that you need to go to grad school to be a good person. Of course, I went nuts on him. I think the thing that is pushing me over the edge with graduate school is that people who are thinking straight about schooling are not even considering graduate school. These people are debating if college is a rip off (heres a great discussion in New York magazine with James Altucher, a venture capitalist in NYC) And people are even debating if high school is useless (heres a great post by Lisa Nielsen who is with the NYC Department of Education). And anyway, Im losing interest in the debate about grad school because Im convinced that the future belongs to home schoolers because they are self-learners. Also, for those of you who keep telling me that there are some fields you absolutely have to have a degree for, check out the song 99 Problems by Jay-Z. The song includes great legal advice about Miranda rights, racial profiling and search warrants, even though he doesnt have a law degree or a creative writing certificate to prove his poetic talents. Click this link for an attorneys analysis of the advice in the song, but heres an excerpt, attorneys advice in italics: The year is ninety-four, in my trunk is raw In my rear-view mirror is the motherfuckin law Got two choices yall, pull over the car or (hmm) bounce on the Devil, put the pedal to the floor And I aint tryin to see no highway chase with Jake Plus I got a few dollars, I can fight the case (Not running from the police seems like excellent advice.) So I, pull over to the side of the road Son, do you know why Im stoppin you for? Cause Im young and Im black and my hats real low Or do I look like a mindreader, sir? I dont know Am I under arrest or should I guess some more? (In general, not volunteering information at a traffic stop is great advice.) In the comments section on the NPR site, people complain that Im bitter and angry and offer no alternative to graduate school. Heres the alternative: Admit that adult life is scary because there is no clear path to success. Grad school is not a quick fix for the fears of adulthood. Instead, be grateful for the chance to be lost it means youre living your own life, because no one can make choices in the exact same way you can, whether they are right or wrong. So all there is for adult life is you, following your nose, trying to figure out what brings you joy. Each time I see someone who has done that, in some little way, I feel relief and hope for myself. Image from Austin Kleon. Best alternative to grad school After yesterdays post, about how stupid grad school is, a lot of people asked, what is an alternative to grad school? This is a great question. I see this picture outside my window at least once a month. I have only a little idea of whats going on. Should I go to graduate school to figure it out? I could. I could get in. And its clear that the next stage in my life will involve some sort of work related to farming. A business. Or writing. Or marketing. But Im not going to graduate school to learn about agriculture because I have tried going to graduate school to get a jump on my job prospects and it doesnt work. When I graduated from college, I was supposedly going to graduate school in history. But I kept writing entrance essays about why I wanted to tell stories about people and history is a good way to do that. And finally, my professor who had stood by me for four years, getting undergraduate research grants for me to study mass movements in colonial America, said, Forget it. You dont want to be a historian. What she really meant was, Im not pulling strings to get you into Yale. And that was the only place I applied. Because she said shed get me in. Every job interview I went on seemed stupid: An incredible combination of not enough money to live on and a job description that was one step up from slave. So I played professional beach volleyball. I got as high as #17 in the US rankings. But when I went back down 32 I had no competitive urge to get back up. So I knew I needed to do something else. But I couldnt get a job. I mean, I could. Working for my boyfriend. But that had sucked before. So I knew it would suck again. I took the GRE and scored in the bottom 20th percentile in quantitative reasoning, which got me into an English masters program. It took me a year and a half and $15,000 in loans to realize this degree would never get me a job. I tried to date a few professors, but they were already adept at judging whether or not a grad student was too messed up. Now Im going to tell you what I did to make things come together in my career. First, I stopped doing work that wasnt going to lead to a job. I got a C in Victorian Literature, a D in Film and Literature, an A in modern literature only because I plagiarized from the New York Times Book Review. Meanwhile, I taught myself HTML before people knew what the Internet was. I presented a paper at the Dartmouth Technology Conference while my fellow English grad students were writing novels. I left grad school a month before it ended. I just left. Went back to Los Angles. I was the thinnest I have ever been in my life because I had no money for food. People worried about me and brought me leftovers. I ate them. This was happening when you had to send out resumes on thick, expensive white paper, and I used food money for postage. I got an interview 50 miles from where I lived. I borrowed a friends car and got the job. I was hired to run the whole Internet for a Fortune 500 company, Ingram Micro. My job was to enforce the AP Style guide even though Id never read it. I was in charge of the web development team even though I didnt know anything about development besides the HTML pages I wrote in grad school. I gave myself a graduate course in Internet. And a graduate course in copy writing. And a graduate course in management. I read books. I read magazines. I tried stuff out and took way too long and then tried it again. I worked 15 hour days, and I felt like I was a student. I was learning all the time. So its logical to me that this is what everyone should do. Find a foot in a door and then start learning everything you can to open that door wider. I got fired for having sixteen non-work projects on my work computer. At the time I was horrified. Now I think it was the inevitable result of me taking control over my own education. If you are thinking of going to graduate school, you need to understand that the process of discovering what value you bring to the adult world is a very hard process to endure. Because you are probably smart, and you like to learn, and most jobs are not about paying you to learn. You have to create that for yourself. The best thing I did is that I kept my learning curve very high even outside of school. I saw where the opportunities were, and I started learning in that area, trying to figure out where I fit. So look. Brazen Careerist has a Social Media Bootcamp. Everyone who is thinking of going to grad school should take the course. Its $245, which is nothingnothingcompared to grad school loans. And the course can show you a way out. The Bootcamp is about possibilities. A course cannot answer your big life questions for you. But it can show you that you have more options than you think you do. If you are thinking of going to grad school, its because you dont like the choices you see in front of you. Maybe nothing gets you excited. But you can use social media to bridge the type of learning you loved to do in school with the type of learning you can get paid to do. And you can use social media to see how to make jobs for yourself that get you excited. It might seem like a harder path to sign up for Social Media Bootcamp instead of getting a graduate degree. It seems harder because you wont have someones stamp of approval. But credentials dont get the job. Experience does. So, in fact, Social Media Bootcamp is the path of least resistance. Your safety net is not a degree, but practice learning new ideas on your own and implementing them. So you know you can do that again and again. Life should be a process of learning and doing, learning and doing. Grad school is all learning. Its an imbalance that is not fair to you, and not right for you. Create your own grad school. Open your own doors. Sign up right now. [Note: The bootcamp registration has passed. But so many people have asked me about signing up that I am offering a one-hour bootcamp alternative. Email me for details: penelope@penelopetrunk.com]

Using Summary for Writing a Resume

Using Summary for Writing a ResumeWriting a resume is easy with summary. In fact, it's so easy that people get results from it! This article will discuss some of the reasons why Summart is such a valuable resume tool.One reason why Summart is great for writing a resume is because it has a lot of features. The first thing you'll find is that it offers a quick and easy to use interface. You won't have to worry about navigating around the program and you can get results very quickly.Next, you'll also find that it gives you quick action on any question you have. If you click on a few links, you'll get a list of the most common career fields and the most popular schools that offer the specific courses. You can even type in a key phrase and get the most popular searches in your field.And, finally, Summart is a great place to edit and customize your professional resume. You can edit the information or keywords you included in your basic resume, as well as add anything else you want. When yo u're done, you can save your personalized resume as a PDF document for printing, including the date and time.Using Summart for writing a resume has several benefits. In addition to the ability to quickly edit and customize the information, Summart allows you to save it as a PDF file. As a result, you can easily share your resume with your potential employers and print it out at your convenience.Lastly, you'll also find that Summart allows you to save hundreds of professional resume examples. Once you create your personal resume, you can use the software to learn from the examples and adapt the information to your own requirements.To summarize, when you write a resume with Summart, you get one-stop shopping for all the information you need to put together a professional resume. You also get access to hundreds of professionally created resumes for the job you are applying for. Plus, you can customize each resume to make it uniquely yours!All of this adds up to a great way to get a res ume you can use for further employment. There's no need to copy the information from your portfolio, because Summart makes it easy to customize your resume for your professional requirements. Once you get started, you'll never go back!

Are You Ready For Social Recruiting

Are You Ready For Social Recruiting Social Recruiting Humanizes The Process Despite the dismal response most job seekers get after they have submitted an application, some companies are trying to engage and respond to questions through social platforms (LinkedIn groups, Twitter, Facebook pages). In fact, many corporate recruiters and human resources professionals say they are open to connecting with candidates through LinkedIn. This is good news for job seekers who often find it difficult to make contacts within companies. With a little research, you can directly connect with corporate recruiters and begin building a relationship. Rather than applying for a job and falling into the black hole, you now have more options to connect and stand out. Social Recruiting Study Results Jobvite released their annual findings on how and where job seekers are using social networks for their job search. You can read my summary here. Take note:  There is a major disconnect between job seekers and recruiters. They spend their time in different places. You can read todays US News World Report post to learn which social network YOU need to be active on. Tap Friends To Find Job Opportunities The most compelling reason to embrace social media for your job search is the ability to connect with current and past friends across multiple social networks in order to learn about job opportunities. Read more about the power of being a referred candidate. Open Networks Build Future Relationships And did you know you can forge new relationships with influencers and peers you do not yet know? Open networks like Twitter and Google+ allow you to follow or circle people you do not have connections to. You can even communicate with them just by using their name in your status update. You will find most people who use Twitter and Google+ are friendly and often respond to your message if it isnt spammy or too self-promotional. Try it and see! More Social Recruiting Tips Insight My US News World Report post today has more helpful information about social recruiting for job seekers (and companies). I hope youll check it out!

COTJ Reviews Gulpfish Social Job Search Tool

COTJ Reviews Gulpfish Social Job Search Tool 10 Flares 10 Flares The problem: Applying for jobs on Monster, CareerBuilder, and other large sites can sometimes have us feeling like we just arent getting our personality through.  Along with feeling like robots, the process is tedious and leaves us confused as to where weve even applied and who has interest in us. The answer: GULPFISH.COM What is Gulpfish? Gulpfish is a start up social job search website that helps seekers not only get more of their personality into their job applications but also makes for an easy to use and organized search tool. Some great features youll see on Gulpfish include: Creative and elaborate profile section On-line interviews right on Gulpfish Job Search Organization View Top-5 Employers (Employers can view Top 5-Candidates) Television job search application (first of its kind) Gulpfishs Elaborate Profile Creation Gulpfish provides many options for job seekers when creating a profile, which sets them apart from the big name job boards.  Here is a run down of the features/options in the profile creation section: Contact Information This section is what it seems.  Name, location, and the information companies need to reach you. Professional Information Here youll list out the job title/profession you are targeting, the industry you work in, certifications youve received, and lastly your professional education. Career Data This section goes deeper into your career.  It asks you to provide industry blog posts youve written, if youre willing to relocate, and if youd be willing to take a job in another industry for comparative pay.  These are great questions that you dont see on many job search websites. Bio Whats really cool about the bio section is that Gulpfish provides four templates for job seekers (Unemployed, Employed, Student, and Empty).  Its not easy to talk about ourself when asked to, so this is very helpful! Photo Yep, you get a photo too!  If youd rather not have one, thats an option as well. Resume Cover Letter Gulpfish allows you to paste in a saved Resume Cover Letter, or they will help you create one. Portfolio I love this section!  Gulpfish allows you to toss in Pictures, Video, Audio, and other Files that help show off your talents.  This portfolio section is perfect for any creative type job seeker! Video Bio Another cool feature is the video resume section.  You can upload a file from your computer, upload it from YouTube, or go to videoBIO to create one! Gulpfish Organizes Your Job Search Gulpfish offers a few cool features to help you keep your job search organized.  On the right side of your Home page, youll see Employers and Interview Calendar.  The Employers box is where youll see the employers youve saved, as well as an inbox section for messages.  Underneath that section is where youll see your calendar that shows all of your interviews youve set up. Job Search From My Television?  Yep! Gulpfish has launched the first of its kind television application that allows companies and their potential candidates to connect and interact right on their Samsung application enabled internet televisions.  The application theyve created is the Gulpfish Social Job Connect Application.  I havent seen exactly what it looks like and how it works yet, but Im very excited to get a look at it sometime very soon! Gulpfish is Co-owned by Full Force The Full Force brothers (Lucien George also known as Bowlegged Lou, Paul George also known as Paul   Anthony, and Brian George known as B-Fine) have signed on as co-owners of Gulpfish.  The three brothers acted as bullies in the hit films House Party 1 2.  If you arent familiar with those movies, maybe you know who Rihanna, Brittany Spears, Patti Labelle, The Backstreet Boys, Lil Kim, and Nicki Minaj are.  Those are just some of the artists that the Full Force brothers have written /or produced music for. The brothers will help form a Gulpfish Music Entertainment division to help connect those creative professional with jobs.  This division of Gulpfish is coming soon, but you can find it by clicking here. Final Words From COTJ While Gulpfish has really only just begun, they have already been tagged as an innovator in the social job search space.  Their partnership with the Full Force brothers will help them grow at a much quicker rate than most start ups, and creative professionals should be very excited about the partnership. Create your free profile today on Gulpfish.com!