Why You Must Manage Your Emotions

How many times has each of us been involved in or observed the dominate emotion; anger, overtaking a given situation? Way to many in many I suspect. Emotions, especially negative ones (such as anger) can surface at work, play, with family, friends in the boardroom or on the ball field. Independent of the situation, anger is on of the most detrimental of the emotions you must learn to recognize and control. More often than not, how a person reacts at that moment when anger surfaces, or is confronted by someone who is angry, defines a positive or negative outcome and potentially your status among the group of people impacted.

The simple example is when children get angry, yell, scream, cry and sometimes lash out. Our first thought, yell back! What happens, the yelling gets louder and your blood pressure rises the situation deteriorates. We have all been there and it is not a positive situation to be in and takes a while for everyone to calm down. Conversely when you remain in control, the anger subsides and situation becomes manageable and resolves itself quicker. You can express your disapproval, explain how getting angry is negative, prompt discussion and listen all while attempting to get to a resolution.

In a professional setting, it is very uncomfortable to be present when yelling and or finger pointing become the focus instead of he subject intended. Besides, anger diminishes our ability to reason and think clearly. Granted this is not easy, there are times when the other person grandstands and refuses to relinquish the situation, it is then best to re-schedule the meeting or agree to talk at an another time.

I’m not indicating you will never be angry, but keep your emotions in check and be conscious of what you say. It is far better to be silent than say something derogatory, hurtful or irreproachable. Silence sometimes is your best strategy.

Respect is difficult to attain, and can be easily lost by not controlling your negative emotions on your road to success. Seek out professionals in the field of anger management if you feel that additional assistance is required for you, a loved one or co-worker.

Cost of Poor Quality

What are your business costs due to poor quality (CoPQ) and their effect on your bottom line? For this discussion, CoPQ is any costs (dollar amount) you can associate with the inability to correctly perform a task the first time. Common contributors to CoPQ are; rework, scrap, customer returns, waste, meetings, shipping, travel. The list is lengthy and can cover a wide range expenses a business incurs.

Every business probably has "CoPQ" expense accounts set-up in their accounting structure but, categorizes them as standard or expected expenses. In other words, "Just part of doing business, plan for it". You or your company's management may or may not be conscious of the potential savings available. The potential savings can be assessed by simply initiating performance measures on a few of these key expenses. Look at the obvious ones, scrap, rework and customer returns for the last 6 months to a year. You may have to work through the financial group to get reports applicable to your situation.

Take action if there is an expense that looks out of the ordinary, assign someone to track down the root cause. Traditional organizations have the quality professionals perform this task. One cause could be there is a single expense account or general fund for all scrap, which should be broken down into detailed accounts that allow specific tracking of expenses. If you are not comfortable undertaking this investigation, inquire who may be the correct person by contacting your manager or quality professional.

The basic framework to track CoPQ expenses should be in place, take a look at your situation and see. There could be an opportunity for you to contribute to the continued financial success of your business.

Are your customer’s satisfied?

Do you monitor how satisfied your customer’s are with the service or product provided to them? If you do great, if not, you definitely need to start. The reason to maintain customer loyalty is obvious, look at all the competition that is in the market place. Customer loyalty to you and your product or service is a key component to maintaining a successful business.

Where to begin? Begin by improving you & your companies listening skills at all levels. Every contact made by you or your personnel via the internet, phone or in person is a potential “Customer Moment” and can provide early indications of potential problems. I mean everybody, from the dock to board room; train yourself and personnel to listen. Listen to what may be considered a trivial or off the cuff comment, document it and discuss internally. These comments may actually become a real customer issue, and if dealt with sooner rather than later will build customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Next, develop a feedback system that supports the collection of customer information and can even provide a response mechanism when required. To implement this system, you will need to assign a person or small team to decide what is best for your business and customer base. You might even engage some of your faithful customers in this project.

Active listening to you customers is not easy at first, but you will recognize the power and monetary benefit of avoiding customer complaints and heading off problems before they escalate. Just remember the last time you were the recipient of poor customer service! Do not fail to act on what you information gained through your customers voice. If additional training is required seek out subject matter professionals and organizations to assist you.

The investment will be worth it, just ask your customers what they think!

Frustrated by Micromanagement?

Often, micromanagement is utilized because a manager or person is seeking detailed information about a product, service or even a person for a negative reason. Micromanagement is put in place because there is an underlying need to have a certain level of knowledge. This detailed knowledge is required for a reason and to assist in their decision making process.

What should you do? Look at the situation as a whole and decide if you are alone or part of a larger group under the same micromanagement scrutiny.

If you feel isolated, talk to the person and see if you can discover the cause behind the behavior. You may not be able to get to the reason initially, but try. Maybe there is a misunderstanding and a simple change of behavior through this discussion resolves the cause of the scrutiny. If a discussion does not work, seek assistance from the Human Resource department, or possibly a professional counselor. Explain your situation and request their assistance in investigation the situation. Based on this gathered information you need to assess what is right for you and ultimately if change is required. It may be time to seek an alternate position within a different department or outside the company.

If the situation appears to be spread across the general population, the negative signs can be related to a company's cash flow or possibly a pending reduction in staff. You may not find the exact reason, but investigating a few key areas of the company is important because your future is at stake. General company indicators are; has the sales forecast been met? Any items not delivered as promised? Did the company have a recent budget review? Have the budgets been exhausted, was a big order booked that can not possibly be met?

Micromanagement is a very negative management technique, a de-motivator and causes untold amounts of stress. Look at your situation, make sure you are not the cause, try to understand what's behind the behavior and be willing to initiate change if required. Remember, take charge of your daily life and success will follow.

Praise and Recognition

When was the last time you praised your child, told someone good job or even simply said; thank you. In the rush to get all of our day-to-day activities and trying to complete tasks, I doubt very much we stop and think about praise and recognition. If you are a coach, teacher, manager, peer, mentor or parent, you must on a regular basis stop and praise the efforts of those around you.

Praising someone in public or private is a tremendous motivator whose worth cannot be measured. Developing praise and recognition into your daily routine is so simple it is often forgotten. We often focus on the negative; don't give in to this temptation.

No matter what your profession is a few simple tips below will help get you started, after that develop your own style, it is easier than you think.

1.No matter where you are the next time someone holds open a door, lets you in a parking space, on the highway, say out loud thank you.
2.If your spouse brings you a cold drink or something to eat, tell them how much you appreciate the effort and thought.
3.Give your child or spouse a big hug and kiss, then simply say "Thanks for being you".
4.Next time you ask someone to help with a task or project, thank him or her in advance for his or her time and help, in this case don't wait until it is completed.

Outside of money, recognizing and praising someone for their efforts goes a long way in building character and self worth, try it and you will reap the benefits also because it just feels good.

Positive Energy in your Office

Positive energy can go a long way in ensuring that your office environment is peaceful and stress free. If you have ever worked in an office with people who are constantly giving off negative energy, you surely know what it feels like. You feel suffocated by this energy, and often times it wears off on others.

One of the biggest problems in offices nowadays is people that are constantly talking about others, and turning people against one another. This form of negative energy is one of the quickest ways to divide an office. If you work with people like this it is very important that you do not let them bring you down. But it is easier said than done.

The best way to combat negative energy is to throw positive energy right back at it. In other words, if a co-worker of yours is constantly degrading your boss, you need to step to the plate and throw a good word in about him or her. This will make the person realized that this type of attitude will not be tolerated. By letting this negative energy circulate around the office, you are doing nothing to help the situation. In fact, if you are not helping, you are just contributing to the problem.

Try to make it a point to show up at your office everyday in a good mood. Often times, positive energy will wear off on your co-workers. If you can get this sort of flow started, pretty soon everybody is feeding off of each others positive energy. This means that anybody who brings negative energy to the office will quickly be converted; they will not have any other choice.

The good thing about positive energy is that it does not cost a thing. If you are looking to find this energy, you need to look no further than inside yourself. Everything that you need can be found within yourself. But remember, you can find negative energy just as easily. So it is important to wake up everyday looking at what can go right, instead of what can go wrong. This is nothing more than getting in a good mindset from the moment that you wake up. It will take a little bit of will power at first, but after you get used to looking at the good side of things, you will never go back.

Positive energy is one of the most overlooked aspects of a successful business. Companies that have people who are circulating negative energy will never live up to their potential. Don’t be a part of the problem; show up at work tomorrow with a lot of positive energy and be part of the solution.

Making Friends at Work

Working in the corporate world can be very boring if you do not have any friends to share the experience with. But it can often times be very difficult to meet people and make friends in an office environment. Even though it can be difficult, that does not mean that it is impossible. There are a couple of tips that you can follow.

First off, you will want to make yourself accessible to the other people in your office. If you are always holed up in your cubicle, there is no way that you are going to be able to meet other people. Chances are that there is somebody else in the same situation as you. You are both probably sitting in your own cubicle or office, with nobody to correspond with throughout the day. This is why it is important to mingle. Also, even though you are there to work, do not become so consumed that you are unapproachable by the other people in your office. If people feel like they are going to be bothering you they will never come around to talk with you. Also, people do not want to talk with co-workers that are always in bad moods. You need to make yourself appears outgoing and friendly. People are much more prone to speaking with somebody who is in a good mood, than somebody who may lash out at any given second.

Also, if you get invited to join a group of people for lunch or for a drink after work you should definitely take them up on the offer. This means that they are interested in learning more about you, and that they enjoy your company. Remember to be yourself when you go out with co-workers. There is no reason to act like somebody that you aren’t. You want them to like you for who you are, not who you are pretending to be at that time. You will also want to be careful when conversing with your co-workers. You do not want to talk badly about anybody else, because you never know who you may offend. By keeping to mainstream conversation you will be able to avoid any problems that may come up.

Finally, remember that if you are asked out and turn down the invitation that you may not get asked again. By constantly turning down invitations your co-workers will get the feeling that you do not like to be around them.

Overall, making friends at work is not a very difficult thing to do. If you make yourself accessible to your co-workers there is no reason that you cannot have a couple of friends in no time at all. Put on your friendly face and get started today!

Hypnosis and Public Speaking

If you are having a difficult time with your public speaking skills you may want to consider visiting a hypnotist. Even though it may sound a little far fetched, many people have overcome their fear of public speaking by being hypnotized. There are many professionals worldwide that specialize in this form of hypnosis. They can be found by a simple internet or yellow pages search. But before you get started, you may want to get some more background information on what this entails.

Even though nobody knows exactly how hypnosis happens, they do know the basic gist of things. Hypnosis is a state of trance where the subject is extremely relaxed and has a heightened state of imagination. Contrary to popular belief, being hypnotized is not the same as being asleep. This is because during hypnosis the subject is alert to their surroundings the entire time. Most people describe it as daydreaming where you are awake but you are tuning out mostly everything going on around you.

During hypnosis a person will take the suggestion of the hypnotist as if they were reality. So in other words, if a hypnotist suggests that you will no longer be afraid to speak in public, you should be able to follow this command. But while all of this is going on, the subject is essentially just pretending with a high level of intensity. This state also means the subject will be willing to take on almost any suggestion. This is a very important part of the process. Because of this subject did not take orders, it would be almost a pointless undertaking.

Hypnosis is widely believed as a way to reach somebody’s subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is in charge of the things that you do everyday without thinking about them. Therefore it is believed that if a hypnotist can access this information, they can make the subject less prone to being intimidated by public speaking. By connecting directly with your subconscious, the hypnotist will be in charge of your every move. If you have ever seen a hypnotist show, you know that the subject will take every suggestion to heart.

Another important factor to consider is that the subconscious is where all of your memories are stored. So again, if a hypnotist can access your memory, he or she can make you believe that you actually enjoy public speaking.

Even though hypnosis will not work on everybody, it can most definitely be an effective form of overcoming a fear of public speaking. You will never know if this will work for you until you give it a shot. So seek out a local hypnotist and get started. This may be the break you were looking for in order to advance your career.

How to Find Financial Freedom

Many people make finding financial freedom harder than what it actually is. In order to find financial freedom all you have to do is follow a few simple steps. Now of course you have to have some resources available to make this work for you, but these steps are not just for millionaires that already have everything that they need. Financial freedom can be had by people who are not millionaires. It can be had by everyday common people who know how to work within the system and get what they want. By following the steps below you will be well on your way to financial freedom.

1. To find financial freedom you need to first find out where all of your money is going every month. You need to remember to pay yourself first, and take care of everything else next. In other words, make sure that you are not taking every paycheck you get and paying off debt. You do not have to pay everything off at once. By keeping some money for yourself you will be able to live a nice life.

2. Investing automatically is one way to gain financial freedom that is most of the time overlooked. People do not want to do this because they feel like they are not getting to see any of their money; but this is the exact point. If you do not see the money you will not be able to spend the money. By investing directly from your paycheck you will ensure that your money is getting to the proper place without any being taken off of the top on the way.

3. Make sure you diversify your portfolio. In other words do not put all of your eggs in the same basket. You will want to make sure you have money in a lot of different places. The stock market, real estate, and savings accounts are all very popular options.

4. Quit wasting time and get started today. This is one problem that plagues a large percentage of the population. They always say that they are going to get started, but never seem to have the time to get around to it. Remember, as time goes by so does your opportunity to save money. Each paycheck that you spend without investing is one that could have gone towards the stock market or starting a savings account.

By following the four steps outlined above you will have a solid foundation on which to build your financial freedom. The most important thing to remember is to get started right away. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, they happen to everybody including the professionals. Just think about how great it will be to gain financial freedom!

Overworking can lead to Burnout

Do you work more hours than you should? Do you leave the office at night, just to find yourself picking up where you left off at home? Do you feel like you are stuck in a rut and you will never get out? If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be suffering from burnout at your job. This often occurs when you work too many hours without taking time off. Many people feel like the only way to get things done is by working long days, and sometimes even longer nights. But this is simply not true. In fact, if you are doing work while you are tired or not at your peak performance your work is almost always going to suffer.

If you feel like you are experiencing burnout at your current job there are a couple of things that you can do to refresh yourself. The first thing that most people try is taking a vacation. This is a great way to relax your mind and refresh your body. Even if you do not go to a tropical island you can still benefit from this time off. A vacation does not necessarily mean that you have to go out of town. You can spend your time sleeping in, spending time with your family, or reading. It is up to you to decide how you spend your time. But the one thing that you must remember is that you are vacationing, which means no work whatsoever. This means no checking your email, or calling into the office five times a day to check your voicemail. If the temptation is too much for you to take, then you should schedule an out of state vacation and leave all of your work at home.

If you have tried the vacation route and you are still feeling worn out at your current job, it may be time for a career change. There is no reason to feel guilty if you think that changing careers might be able to rescue you for your current slump. Make sure that you explain your situation to both your employer and to anybody at home who may be involved on your decision. The first step to a career change is finding what you want to do. Remember that the reason you are making a change is to reenergize your career, so choose something that you are really interested in. If you have a degree in teaching, but have always worked in sales, maybe you want to contact some of the local high schools.

Do not let burnout control your life. Even though it is sometimes hard to break out of a rut, it can be done if the appropriate steps are taken.

Maintain your Network of Contacts

A lot of people have transitioned from the centralized workplace to a more individualized computer based one. In the formal business environment, we would come in contact daily with peers in our profession. A computer or web based business, by the nature of it can isolate some people from the social interaction that the previous workplace afforded. In other cases, some socially reserved people find they have a vast computer based professional and social network of contacts. How we maintain our network depends on your individual situation. I have found four methods that continue to work for me. They are:

1.For your web-based business, establish a method to capture and respond to people visiting your site by requesting contact information: name, e-mail, nature of their business etc. Keep this step simple and to a minimum, no one likes to fill out a bunch of information every time they visit a site. Make sure you set-up an auto reply program. The auto reply response lets the person know you will follow-up in the future with relevant information. The response should be brief and professional. This method allows you to screen for people who really want follow-up information or are just scanning the web.

2.Include in your e-mail signature area, links that are relevant to you. These should include your website address, your Blog, and maybe an online forum you like. Include anything relevant, just in case your e-mail gets passed on someone who may find something appealing or of interest regarding this piece of information.

3.Establish yourself a Blog. Very simple to do, and is an enjoyable way to express yourself and share information. You will find a Blog can create quite a number of contacts by people commenting on the subject matter or topic. This will build a support network that you can target for your service or business.

4.Participate in seminars, training sessions or workshops on subjects you are interested in. These are great ways to find and network with subject matter experts, people with similar interest and experiences. These can be online or in a seminar type situation. This is a great way to meet people with the same interests and discuss topics.

Get out and network in some form or fashion, you never know who or what the next contact may lead to.

Develop Decision Making Skills

Everybody in the world will have to make a decision or two today. But not everybody is equipped with the same level of decision making skills. One of the best ways to develop these skills is by simply practicing them. Unfortunately, sometimes while you are practicing these skills you may end up making some bad decisions. But at the same time there are also ways to develop your decision making skills by simply analyzing different situations.

There are a few different ways of thinking, and all of them contribute to a different decision making mindset.

First off, when making a decision you can do so by looking purely at the data and facts that are presented. Look at the information that is available to you, as well as the information that is missing. By doing this you will be able to assess the situation at hand, and come up with the best solution. One important thing about this decision making process to remember is that you will not know everything about the situation. It is up to you to do your best to plug the gap with what you do know.

Many people make decisions based on intuition or a gut reaction. This works for some people, but many people find it to be too risky. The majority of people prefer to analyze a situation completely and make a decision based on facts (see above.)

If you always think negatively, you probably make decisions by looking at all of the bad points in a situation. This can be a good way to solve a problem, as long as you try to formulate ways to turn bad points into good points.

On the other hand, there is the group of people who always thinks positively. These people look at a problem and see all of the good that it can bring to them. Just remember to not let all of these good thoughts taint reality.

Another group of people likes to make decisions based on creativity. These people are always looking for a new and better way to solve a problem. They are trend setters.

And finally, there is a large chunk of the population that feels that they need to be in complete control to solve a problem. These people are often difficult to work with because they are not usually open to new ideas.

Overall, people solve problems and make decisions in a variety of different ways. There is no right and wrong way to go about doing this. It all comes down to which process you feel most comfortable with, and which one you have had the most success using. Remember, there is nothing wrong with incorporating all of these ideas in order to improve your overall decision making skills.

Overcome Fatigue at Work

A big problem in today’s working world is that too many people are working long hours. This can lead to fatigue and many times burn out. This can be a big problem because fatigue can cause a decline in work production, as well as a decrease in job quality. If you feel like you are suffering from fatigue there are a few things that you can do to beat it.

1. Only work your set schedule. This means if you are scheduled to work from 9-5 you only work 9-5. This way you do not find yourself sitting at your desk at 7 pm because you have a long project to finish the next day. By staying late you are fatiguing your mind and you will be less effective the next day anyway. If you can stick to your set schedule you will be able to get more work done in the same amount of time.

2. Even though drinking coffee is not a suggested method, many people turn to it in order to fight fatigue. The first thing that many people do when they wake up in the morning is put on a fresh pot of coffee. Other people wait until they get to work and then head straight to the kitchen to start the day off with a hot cup of java. But this is just a temporary fix. As soon as the caffeine wears off you are back to point a. And this is when the vicious cycle begins. After the first cup wears off you go back and get another, and then after that another. This is not a safe way to fight fatigue, and if this sounds familiar you should definitely try an alternative option.

3. Take a vacation. This is one of the best ways to fight fatigue at work. If you feel like you cannot get caught up, the best thing to do is take some time off. Even if you do nothing more than lay around the house, you will still be giving your mind a rest from work. But do not forget that a vacation means no work. Many people will take off work, just to find themselves checking voice mail and email every hour or so. This is not the type of vacation you need. When you return from your break you will most definitely feel rejuvenated.

Overcoming fatigue can be a difficult feat. Many people think that they will get used to the feeling, but actually end up making themselves worse in the long run. It is not necessary to try to fight fatigue. All you need to do is come up with a plan and stick to it.

Motivational Speakers and their Audience

If you are looking for a way to share your experience and help out others you should look into the business of becoming a motivational speaker. Thousands of people every year give speeches and talks to audiences on a wide variety of topics. A motivational speaker can be hired for a number of different reasons. It is not difficult to break into the business of motivational speaking; you just have to know where to start, and how to market your skills.

The first thing that you must have is experience on the topics that you are going to be talking about. If you plan on giving speeches to a conference audience on human resources issues, it is essential that you have past work experience in this field. This usually works itself out, because if you do not have experience in a certain field you will have a very difficult time getting hired to talk about it.

You may be thinking to yourself that you do not have the background necessary to become a motivational speaker. But this is not true. All you need to do is develop a niche in the market that has not yet been tapped into. This has been done thousands of times. A couple of examples are speakers who focus on time management skills, effective communication, how to start a business, and more recently how to make money online. At one point in time none of these topics had ever been covered, but now they are among the most popular discussions at seminars and conferences. The easiest way to find a niche is by looking at your current situation. Take into consideration your occupation and what skills make you a success. If you are in sales, maybe you want to start speaking about the top ten sales skills that you need to make tons of money. If you have recently started an e-business you may want to give talks on how to get started and what to be aware of. Everybody has a skill that they are good at; it is just a matter of finding it and molding it into something that people want to learn about.

To be a success in this industry you need to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Think about what they want and need in order to become more successful. People will listen if you can communicate useful information in a unique and understandable way. It may take some time to perfect your talks, but after a while you will learn what your audience wants.

In order to achieve success as a motivational speaker you need to market your skills to the appropriate groups. Find out where your niche fits in and get started!

Why do I need a Career Coach?

Hiring a career coach is just like hiring a personal trainer. They can help you to establish realistic goals and give you a plan on how to reach them. A career coach will personally work with you to plan out a strategy to improve your prospects of moving up in the business world. In addition to planning your route to success, a career coach will also ensure that you stay on the appropriate path in order to reach your goals.

A lot of people are intimidated at the thought of hiring a career coach, but this is because they do not fully understand the position. A career coach is hired to act as your friend, partner, and business ally. They are in no way, shape, or form hired to degrade you and tell you that your goals cannot be reached. The role of your coach is to listen to you, and then give you positive feedback. They assist you in helping to find new career goals, and realize the potential of particular situations. Also, anything you speak about with you career coach will be kept confidential.

If you are reluctant to hire a career coach because you think that it is the same as hiring a therapist, you need to clear your mind of these thoughts. A career coach well help you achieve your goals, and reach your maximum potential. On the other hand, a therapist is hired to tell you why you are not fulfilling your goals and why you feel inadequate in the business world. As opposed to a therapist, a career coach is upbeat, energized, and goal oriented, just like you.

Time should not be a factor in considering whether or not you need a career coach. Everybody has time constraints, and these coaches will work around your schedule. If you can only speak at lunch or on weekends that can be arranged. It is important to remember that coaches will work with you face to face, over the phone, or via email. And not every session has to be long. You can specify up front how long you want each session to last.

Being able to track your success can sometimes be a difficult task, and is different with each and every person. One obvious way to judge if your career coach is working is to see how many of your goals you have reached. Also, ask yourself if you have been feeling more self confident and motivated. If you feel like you are not getting what you should out of your sessions explain this to your coach and devise a plan to get back on track.

Overall, a career coach is a great way to achieve your goals and reach your maximum potential.

Positive Attitude-Good for yourself and others

Having a positive attitude is not only important for yourself, it is also important to the people that you come in contact with during your daily life. This can be work colleagues, prospective clients, friends, and family members. Having a positive attitude is often contagious. If you are in a positive frame of mind, you may be able to have an effect on the people around you. On the other hand, if you are always taking a negative attitude towards life, you will be bringing down the people around you. This can lead to people singling you out, thus making your attitude more negative. In order to avoid this downward spiral, you need to learn how to have a positive attitude in everything that you do.

The first thing that you must keep in mind is that having a positive attitude is a decision that you can make everyday that you wake up. If you wake up in a bad mood and decide to carry it with you all day long that is your decision. But if you wake up everyday thinking that something great is going to happen, it probably will. Having a positive attitude can go a long way in ensuring that you have a good day. A good tip to follow is to always have a motivational book handy. For those days when you feel like you are going to have a negative attitude pick up this book and read a couple of your favorite entries. This is a great method for getting your attitude back in check.

When you wake up in the morning think about all of the positive things that you are going to be able to accomplish. Instead of thinking about all of the daily tasks that you despise, think about things that you are looking forward to doing. This may include a dinner date, outside activity or a television program you’ve been waiting to watch.

You should also remember that the best way to have a positive attitude is to achieve success. In order to do this you need to set yourself up for success. Setting obtainable goals, and working hard to reach them can do this.

Keeping a positive attitude has also been scientifically proven to help keep your body and mind healthy. A positive attitude is nothing more than a mind set. Every morning that you wake up be sure to get yourself in the right frame of mind, and stay that way throughout the day. If you feel yourself straying away from positive thoughts, find something that will bring you back to where you need to be.

Eliminating Non-value Tasks from your day

In support of time management, recognizing the need to manage your day through the elimination of non-value added tasks is often forgotten. Without periodically reviewing routine tasks, you will limit the level of success you can achieve. Managing your tasks (routine or not) will go a long way in ensuring your activities will be done on time and efficiently. Here is a simple way to begin the process of eliminating non-value task from you routine.

1. Define for your situation what a value added task is, all other tasks should be categorized as non-value for now. Be critical, this is a little tough at first.

2. Create two lists. One column heading – Value Added, the other Non-Value added. Start each list by thinking of your daily routine; identify five tasks for each category. Keep adding to your two lists as situations or tasks present themselves during each day for a week. Very soon you will be able to find out what tasks you are potentially wasting valuable time on.

3. After a week of doing this you will need to sit down and critically review both lists and determine if each tasks is essential or not. Eliminate the non essential tasks and continue through both lists. You may find some non value tasks are essential and must be kept. If this is the case, maybe this task can be replaced by technology or modified in some manner to add value.

4. Setting a periodic task review schedule for yourself will help to ensure that you do not migrate back to or add new non-value tasks. If you know your tasks for the day you should review each of them and the value gained in completing the activity. Keeping a record of your tasks will help you to keep track of what tasks you have already completed, and the tasks that you still need to get done.

5. Time management work-shops can be very helpful if you are looking to improve your task management skills. Chances are that you are not alone when it comes to needing to improve time management skills. You are the only on who can effectively manage your time, do it and success will follow.

Interview Attire

One sure fire way to miss out on a job is to show up at an interview dressed poorly. If you do this, the hiring manager will have a bad first impression of you, and you will probably have a very difficult time overcoming it. Showing up underdressed or with too many accessories on can put you in a bad light from the get go. It is important to remember that regardless of what kind of position you are applying for that you need to dress professionally.

First off we will review some tips for women.
1. Remember to wear a conservative suit that is a solid color. You may also want to consider wearing a common color such as black, brown, or dark blue. These colors will not make you stand out or draw attention. Avoid wearing bright colors such as pink or orange.
2. Choose shoes that accommodate you well. If you are a bit short and would like to gain a couple of inches feel free to wear high heels. If you are conscientious about your height wear something that has a flat sole. Remember to never wear sandals or tennis shoes.
3. Keep jewelry and accessories to a limit. There is no need to wear four bracelets and five earrings. Show your professionalism by wearing a couple (one or two) classy accessories.
4. Do not overdue it on the make up Give your face a nice, natural look that people will enjoy looking at.
5. Bring a portfolio or briefcase with you that will contain anything that you may need. This will include work samples, extra resumes, and additional references.
Now for the men.
1. Just like the women, wear a solid color, conservative suit. Black, dark blue, brown, and gray are your best choices.
2. Regardless of recent trends, you will want to wear a long sleeve white dress shirt. More and more people are going with colored shirts, but for an interview you will want to stay basic.
3. Keep your tie simple as well. If you are wearing a black suit with a white shirt, consider going with a solid black tie. If you want something to spruce up your outfit, look into a brighter color tie.
4. Many guys overlook their socks and shoes. Remember to wear socks that match your suit, and shoes that are professional.

Goal Setting-Why you should do it

The only way to ever get what you want in life is by setting goals. Whether it is in the business world or in your social life, if you set goals you will have a much easier time getting what you want in the end. A lot of people do not set goals because they are afraid that they will never be able to reach them. But this is nonsense. If you know how to set a goal, and what to do to reach it, you will be able to accomplish what you set out to do. By following the five steps below you will be able to set effective and achievable goals.

1. Make sure that when you set a goal you know exactly what you want. It is helpful to write your goal down on paper so that you can outline the details of your goal. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is setting a goal for something that sounds good in theory, but would not actually fit their lifestyle and current situation. Be realistic.

2. More than likely you will have more than one goal in your life at a time. You have to remember that one goal cannot prevent your from obtaining another. If your goal is to buy a home on the beach it would not make sense for another goal to be receiving a doctorate degree from a university in Wyoming. Make sure that one goal does not contradict another.

3. Staying positive is an important part of writing any goal. Be sure to write your goals as something that you are striving to reach, not something that you are hoping to leave behind. Without recognizing it, many people set negative goals and while they are trying to achieve them they are just adding more negativity to their life. It is imperative to set positive goals.

4. Research every single detail of your goal before starting. Write down details. Instead of writing that your goal is to have a home on the beach, write down what beach you would like to live on, and how much you want your home to cost. This way you have exact details to work towards, instead of just a general idea. General goals are easier to abandon than detailed goals.

5. Even though you want to start out with goals that are attainable, you also want to make sure that you are getting something that is worth your time. It may be exciting to reach smaller goals, but after a while you will crave bigger achievements that make you feel like you are really getting somewhere. You owe it to yourself to aim for the stars.

Lacking Communication Skills? Don't Worry

Good communication skills are an essential part of anybody’s life. No matter if you are in the business world or your social life, communication skills are necessary if you are to be a success. If you do not know how to properly communicate with people you are going to get left behind. Even though some people are born with great communication skills, others are often at a loss on how to improve theirs. Outgoing people almost always have great communication skills, where as people who are shy by nature tend to need to put a little bit of extra work in. At this point you are probably wondering where and how you can improve your communication skills.

The first place you may want to start is by purchasing a book or DVD on effective communication skills. Over the past couple of years these tools have become a very popular method of teaching communication skills to people who are in need. Professionals in this area of expertise often publish these books and DVDs as a way to help out less fortunate people. After a couple of hours spent with these tools you will have the background that is necessary to become an effective communicator. The people who are teaching these skills have many years of industry experience and have helped thousands of people better their communication skills. In order to pick out the book or DVD that is right for you, do some research on the internet. You will be able to find hundreds of options. At that point it is just a matter of purchasing the tool that is appropriate for your needs and your current situation. Try to read as many reviews as you can as well. This way you will be able to see what worked for others.

If you would rather get a more personal touch you may want to attend a seminar on communication skills. These seminars are offered world wide, and can be a great way to get first hand, effective tips. Seminars are conducted by industry experts, and if you are lucky you may be able to find a top notch speaker in your area. Again, seminars can be found by searching the internet. You may also be able to find out about them by asking the personnel department at your company. Personnel departments often get mailers about upcoming seminars and conferences. Your company may even offer to fund your trip if you express enough interest.

Communication skills have been and will always be an important life skill. It can never hurt to have the best communication skills possible. By accessing the sources listed above, you will be well on your way to communicating more effectively.

How to Build Confidence

Without confidence in yourself, you are going to have a very difficult time achieving success in the business world or in your social life. Confidence is one of the key ingredients to success. The good thing about confidence is that it does not take a lot of time and effort to find it. By following a few tips you will be able to go from low confidence to high confidence in no time at all.

In order to understand confidence you need to know where it comes from. Confidence can be found from within yourself, from other people such as business associates, and from obtaining your goals.

If you are lacking confidence you need to ask yourself why. A couple of common themes are that people believe they are meant to fail, or that everybody is always talking about them. The first step to regaining your self confidence is to take all of these thoughts and get them out of your mind. Tell yourself that you are going to be successful, and that what other people are saying about you does not matter.

There are many people that have a supreme amount of self confidence. If you want to be like them, act like them. Finding a person to look up to is a great way to learn to be confident. Take notes on their non verbal skills, as well as the way that they present themselves to others. If you know the person well enough you may even want to ask them for some personal help. Most people will be flattered if you take a sincere interest in them.

Next, always focus on achieving your goals. Regardless of what people tell you, or how many times you have failed, keep your eyes on achieving your goal and do not stop until you have reached it. Quitting breeds bad self confidence, so always stick with your goals until you accomplish them.

Working on your weaknesses can also help to build confidence. The reason that you probably lost confidence in the first place is because of a perceived weakness. By eliminating these problem areas you are also building confidence.

If you have ever set a goal you know how easy it can be to get lost on your way to reaching them. This is why it is important to set smaller goals that can be attained in a short amount of time. This will allow you to build on your confidence with each success, and eventually reach your main goal.

Building confidence is not hard to do if you know what you are looking for. Keep the above tips in mind, and you will be on your way to reaching your goals in no time.