1. Clarify your career goals.
   What are your aspirations at the present job or career? Perform a personal career “check-up” – is this the job or career you want to be in? Are you using your skills effectively and to your satisfaction? Does the present job / career inspire you? What can you do to enhance your career? Do you aspire for more success and contentment at work? Would you work better in a different work environment? Ask yourself such questions and answer honestly to correctly analyze your present career health. Take charge of your career – it is you and only you who can make the required changes to help yourself to an accelerated success and growth.
    
2. Analyze your current skill set.
   What other skills can take you ahead of the crowd. Make a list and see how you can acquire these skills by either taking courses or learning on the job. Learning new skills should be on your list all the year through. Most of the companies reimburse you for your work related courses and certifications, utilize them. As values are to a personality so are skill set to your career growth and health. Invest and grow them as much as you can whenever you can to ensure constant career advancement.
    
3. Networking is an ongoing process.
   Network and aim to diversify the group you interact with. You will learn a lot more from people from different business sectors or even different business divisions within your company and who knows you might discover your dream career that you thought never existed.
    
4. Document your successes.
   Whatever project you work on today, keep on writing and updating about your accomplishments in a separate detailed “resume” or call it your portfolio. Thinking on how you increased your company’s revenue 3 to 5 years down the road might be difficult if you have not documented your accomplishments and testimonials from customers / colleagues anywhere now.
    
5. You don’t really need that MBA.
   A higher degree in education or an MBA does not necessarily mean that it will make you smarter. Take initiatives and prove to be a leader at your workplace, experience teaches a lot more than what a degree can. Making yourself competitive to a position does not always call for a higher degree, your previous and present work will say a lot more. But if a certification or a degree makes you get ahead on the corporate ladder and you feel the need – go for it.
    
6. Be a team player; build a supportive relationship with co-workers.
   Good interaction amongst your own group will help in generating good vibes and a good team to work with makes a great place to work in. Offer taking up project responsibilities for your colleagues / co-workers who wish to go on vacation. Being a team player and a good colleague has its value and who knows when you have to take a vacation or a break and then you might not need to even ask for a cover-up, the offer will come before you can ask. What goes around comes around.
    
7. Don’t get into office politics.
   It never helps anyone, if you do your job well and right, there is nothing else you should spend your time at in office. There is a wonderful life outside of the cubicle – use your energy there rather than on useless politics. Saying no to office politics will keep you stress-free and in good relations with your co-workers.
    
8. Learn to say NO.
   If you feel you cannot manage everything under the present project responsibilities, learn to say no to what you cannot accomplish in the given timeframe, it is better to get this clear upfront than be confronted later on for not getting the tasks done.
    
9. When feeling frazzled with the workload – learn to prioritize.
   At times the work load seems impossible to handle and the confusion ensues, learn to prioritize your work or work with your manager to help you identify the key issues to work on first. Delegating would help as well. Prioritize your work based on due date of an impending project, length or intensity of a task or the mere simplicity but do prioritize, it helps you get the tasks of your mind and desk one by one. It says a lot about your leadership and organization skills as well.
    
10. Soft skills – communication skills.
    These skills should never be underestimated. With good communication skills you can land a better pay, a great presentation at your industry’s expo or just better communication with your colleagues. Work towards polishing these skills. Interpersonal skills will help you better in negotiations, being a good leader and working in a culturally diverse workplace.
     
11. Don’t be on phone, messenger or Email for too long.
    Though it depends on an individual company policy, the time you spend on “other” activities may be monitored. Emails can be immensely distracting when concentrating on a particular task, practice accessing Emails only a couple of times a day when the workload demands more focus.
     
12. Be Assertive when it calls for. Make yourself visible.
    Make your manager aware on the list of tasks accomplished by initiating regular meetings or weekly work reports. If the manager is too busy to traveling to have these regular meetings mark on your calendar to send via Email a weekly report either at the end of the week or the beginning of the week. By doing so you are making yourself visible and marketing yourself as a reliable and accountable worker. Market yourself; the corporate world is a lot about how well you market yourself.
     
13. Don’t be shocked or feel paralyzed when or if a layoff happens.
    If you are prepared and have taken time to keep your career healthy all the year long, the layoff could offer you with the best of opportunities. And if you are prepared be sure to negotiate a severance or a suitable package as soon as you can. You can only do so if you plan this now – ahead of the axe falling and you feeling too numb to take an action. Preparedness is the key to getting what you want. And taking charge of your career now is the essence of it all.
     
14. Research Salary Structures and Promotion opportunities in different companies.
    Research and read about the salary structures in other states or business sector close to yours. Prepare ahead of a yearly review on how and why you deserve a salary hike. You get what you ask for.
     
15. Is there an entrepreneur in you?
    If you have entrepreneurial skills, dive in early to launch a start-up or partner to do so. Procrastination might only show you that someone else had your idea and launched a cool start-up – the one you only thought about or the market plunges while you were sitting on the idea and having your legs in two different boats.
     
16. Don’t skip jobs just because the other company pays you better.
    You will not find satisfaction if your job description does not inspire you or you want more creativity in your work. Take time to decide on a company and a career, even if it might mean being out of job for some time or taking a slight salary hit. You can find yourself going up the promotional ladder much faster in a company that supports multi-directional promotions than that with a flat management hierarchy.
     
17. Always keep abreast of news on companies within your business area.
    Read and keep abreast on their market rankings in your area of interest. Read trade magazines and newspaper research on the hiring trends and market value of some new companies that you feel can be a good company to work for, for better growth and salary. Keeping pace with the changing marketplace is the key to sustainable survival in the job market. Job market and the way people work is changing fast learn to adapt well and you will be in control.
     
18. Prepare well ahead of your performance review.
    Send a copy of your accomplishments and work record well ahead of time to your manager. Take notes during the review and discuss in details with your manager on a future road-map to further training / improvement or setting new goals. Schedule a follow-up meeting if you did not agree with the assessment in the given time-frame, substantiate your feedback with evidence of your performance as perceived and testified by customers or colleagues you have worked with.
     
19. Don’t be in a job burnout.
    Practice work-life balance and that would keep you more focused and provide a satisfying career. Talk to your manager about flextime working or telecommuting if you think it helps you get some stress out of daily routine. Managing your time and leading a balanced life is a key to your career and personal health. Excessive stress and tension at work breeds a health risk and tends to affect your social life as well.
     
20. Don’t eat alone. And Take a break.
    Don’t skip the lunch hour or eat alone at your desk, this is a perfect time to make new contacts or in other words – networking. As stated before, networking is an ongoing process – it happens everywhere anytime. Also take walks or just move away from your desk at times, creative ideas and solutions pop-up mostly when you are not staring continuously at the computer screen. Getting away from a known and comfortable spot enables the mind to see the situation in a new light.
    Some time away from the computer rejuvenates the eyes and the mind. And at times, just take time to breathe!
     
21. Learn to separate out work life and personal life.
    Don’t take work home if you can. The more you let yourself work from home in non-working hours, the more the habit reigns. There is something on the back of your mind always that you have to check the Email or get the work done. If you are not trying to meet an urgent deadline, don’t bring work home. Try to get work wrapped up in the office hours, always remember that work would never be “done with” even if you worked two hours extra every night. Work procreates!
     
22. Challenge yourself. Create new opportunities.
    Attend your company expos and learn new skills at work to enhance your career. Create a career opportunity if you do not see one. If you have some special skills that your company can use, discuss with upper management how and if a new position could be created to use your full potential. Present a fictional case study or provide solutions to a current problem that your company now faces to showcase your abilities. Get out of your comfort zone and do something new – be it your career or your personal life. Life gets energized with challenges.
     
23. Find a mentor.
    An effective career strategy involves seeking out more experienced people in one's field, and learning new skills from these mentors. You learn from their experience and mistakes as well. Learning from people who have already been there will help you get over the obstacles you face or the fears and anticipation you have for a particular task – faster than with your stumbles and experiments alone.
     
24. Career coaching – “Coaching is to performance what leadership is to an organization”.
    Are you fully satisfied with where you are in your work and career? Do you feel that something is not completely right and find your present career uninspiring? Maybe it's time for a coach, an ally who can help you sort through where you are and where you want to go. A coach helps you succeed and you could reach your peak performance or land your dream career with some guidance and help.
     
25. Create a personal career growth plan.
    Create short-term and long-term plans for your career path. Use this plan as a tool to discuss with your manager during or before the performance planning or as a benchmark for your own reference. Periodically check on your achievements and update on new goals to achieve for the short-term or the long-term. Be realistic and consult with others if you feel the goals to be too daunting to be achieved or have not accomplished what you feel you should have.
    
    Copyright 2007 Careerbright

Believe in Yourself

You may have dreams and aspirations but not all the time the courage to take the first step to make them a reality, not just a dream. You have a dream and desire to do something beyond the ordinary, to achieve a dream you have always had. Till now the dream has not seen the light of the day.
The first step is to believe in yourself and have the confidence and enthusiasm, do not step back. Believe in yourself and don't forget to give it your best try.
Equip yourself with some of the attributes here, these are not mere words of wisdom; imbibe it to be successful in whatever you do!

A SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS article-
To get in game - get a career coach
CAREER COACHES GIVE MORE THAN REMEDIAL HELP

Read the complete article here. An interesting and relevant insight through this article:

Instead of simply fixing a person's weaknesses, coaches aim to develop strengths.

David Chinsky, a former automotive and hospital executive who coaches mid- to high-level executives, says companies often use coaches to develop their most valuable employees.

"It used to be that if your company assigned you a coach, you thought you weren't performing well," Chinsky said. "Now if someone gets a coach, everyone else is wondering why they didn't get one."
 

Emotions and Positive Thinking
(Guest Article)

Though man is blessed with the faculty of reason, the subtle and powerful influence of emotions on human thought and behavior can not be underestimated.

Emotions are deep seated in the human psyche and, both perceptibly and imperceptibly, affect the physical, psychological and spiritual state of man. There seems to be a constant interplay of emotions and reasons in the human mind which is linked to the brain itself. It is largely the emotional state which determines the nature and quality of human thought and behavior.

While the positive state of mind governed by positive emotions can do wonders in realizing one’s aspirations and goals, the negative frame of mind, harshly controlled by negative emotions, can cause havoc and destabilize, dislocate and demoralize a person to unimaginably lowly depths. Positive thinking and high morale can lead one to incredible heights of achievements and success, low morale and pessimistic outlook can drive people to ignoble defeats and tragic failure, one state of mind may lead to the path of fame and glory, the other may push one to hellish fire of sorrow and misery.

Hope and faith may lead to incredible achievements; self actualization and a sense of fulfillment, fear and negativity have nothing to offer but despair and doom. However, emotions and reasons can be brought closer and in harmony in order to work together for the total well being and wellness of the individual.

Emotions and reasons can be harmoniously brought together with the help of the meditative techniques develops over the ages by the Buddhists and other spiritual traditions. Meditative techniques in collaboration with psychotherapeutic techniques can definitely help us in cleansing our minds of negative emotions by careful and concentrated observations, diagnosis and thereby control of such emotions.

Modern day collaborative efforts of meditative, philosopher, psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and others are paving the way for the discovery of new techniques and pragmatic solutions to the psychological afflictions of humans. The therapeutic and uplifting value of positive emotions can definitely help us in realizing our highest of total well being and wellness.
 

-- Dr. Y. B. Lal (Professor, IITR)

A Mentor for all Times

When I first planned on starting my own business, I had a flood of ideas. The enthusiasm bubbled and danced as I talked about my ideas and my future plans. I could feel the energy surge inside me and the brightening of eyes as I talked about my future career to my spouse and close friends. But most definitely, I did not want to talk about it all the time and bore them.

There was so much to discuss and so many questions and anticipation inside me, not only at the inception stage but all through the formulation of my dream to be an entrepreneur. I yearned for a person with whom I could share my thoughts and above all I sought a person who could guide me through my fears and tribulations. I needed someone who could direct me to a solution when I was unsure or gave me constant feedback and most importantly, pumped me up when I was down under the blankets of uncertainty.

So many words and such a small answer – a Mentor!

Yes I needed my mentor. The dictionary defines the mentor as ‘a wise and trusted counselor or teacher’. For me a mentor was an answer to most of my questions.

During my coach training I found my mentor. She is a renowned coach, but above all she was like a perfect match, a person I was looking for since long. And did I feel blessed to have her with me to answer the many questions I had and direct me as I went along the road the entrepreneurship!

We had regular phone sessions and slowly but surely I found each and every session extremely beneficial. My mentor helped me define my goals – note, she did not define them for me, she helped me in finding my answers myself. For the first time I understood the essence of coaching – not as a coach myself but being coached. She was there to define and articulate my thoughts and helped clear up my vision to the right path when I was at the crossroads.

I have this firm belief, no matter how old we are, having a mentor, a trusted teacher or partner in our lives can help us in clarifying our path, our lives.

When you talk to someone at your wavelength or understanding, it is not a mere exchange of ideas, it is expanding your horizons. Maybe going somewhere you never thought was possible.

Most certainly, I believe in having God as a constant partner too. “Practice believing that God is as real and actual as your wife, or your business partner, or your closest friend. Practice talking matters over with him; believe that He hears and gives thoughts to your problems. Assume that He impresses upon your mind through consciousness the proper ideas and insights necessary to solve your problems. Definitely believe that in these solutions there will be no error, but you will be guided to actions according to truth which results in right outcomes.” (Norman Vincent Peale)

Couple your faith and discussions that you have with God with a mentor or a trusted wise partner and that, I believe, can give infallible solutions to your questions and problems.

So what are you waiting for? We only have a handful of time in this world; let’s make the best use of it. If you need help or some direction, don’t wait, time is too precious to let go. Do your best efforts to find the right person, a mentor, a teacher, a coach to guide you to make your dreams a reality.

CB NEWS


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