The Pause that Refreshes

Feeling overwhelmed by all your obligations?

SO stop! It’s time to plug into something that YOU choose-something that can renew your batteries and refresh your interest in work AND life. Unlike the bobble-headed figures that nod “yes” at every touch, you DO get to declare “time out” and place yourself first.

How? Here are some ideas:

#1: Retreat in order to advance.

Take yourself away for at least two nights and three days to a place for a silent retreat. Yes-silence! Forbid yourself from using the phone, the television, or the internet. It’s time to listen instead to the voices in your head that have been trying to get your attention for ages. Write what you sense. Think on paper. And make resolutions that speak to what matters most.

#2: Experience something far a field from your profession.

Play chess or read a book that is NOT in your chosen line of work. Select something that piques your curiosity. The notion is to look for connections or ideas that might stimulate a new way of looking at your work or your life. Former elementary teacher Gail Wenos studied ventriloquism and discovered a new way to teach adults!

#3: Stretch yourself.

If you take an exercise class once a month, try going two more times. If you cook the same food the same way, alternate with a new cookbook. One guy I know saw himself as totally ill-equipped to ride anything that had less than four wheels. But he took motorcycle lessons and his sense of personal accomplishment grew.

#4: Practice your art every week.

Everyone has an art. It might be hammering nails or singing in the shower. It might be designing a garden or counseling a friend. But it uses a talent you’ve got and when this talent is engaged, you burn brightly. You leave the time refreshed. Put this down as a personal “no matter what” on your day timer.

#5: Throw out what weighs you down.

Read only those things that are meaningful to you. Can the clutter as well as the people who are the constant complainers and gripers. Ditch the weight of unnecessary purchases and their financial burden. Give clothes you haven’t worn in over a year to Goodwill . Remember, every ounce counts.

The end of the upcoming year often gives us a chance at some personal time to retreat. Which one of these ideas might help you to regenerate for the challenges ahead? What can you do to make that happen?

How to Become Smarter

Intelligence is your ability to learn, reason, understand and master many subjects. It’s your aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts and meanings.

Knowing a great deal is not the same as being intelligent; intelligence is not information “alone,” but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used. -Dr. Carl Sagan

Here are five ways to increase your intelligence by showing you how to enhance your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery.

5 Ways to Become More Intelligent

1. Read Often
   It sounds so obvious, but...do you REALLY do it? Do you realize that through reading you can learn in a few hours what took someone else decades to learn? Reading not only informs, but it also increases your capacity for learning, thereby increasing your intelligence.
   
   Although knowledge is not the summation of intelligence, it is the foundation of intelligence, so it’s crucial that we cultivate the joy of reading.
   
   It’s an amazing thing, people who become successful write down how they did it, and then sell that information for a few dollars. For a few dollars and a few hours you can literally pick someone’s brain; you can buy a piece of their intelligence.
   
   Reading gives you insight into great minds and sharpens your intellect. This allows you the ability to make greater logical connections because reading gives you more pieces of life’s puzzle. By reading from a multiplicity of sources, you gain the wisdom of many.
   
   Reading (blogs like this one) is a great way to increase your intelligence. Remember, readers are leaders, and leaders are usually intelligent.


2. Teach Others
   

   “Those that understand, teach.”- Aristotle

   
   Teaching increases your capacity for reasoning, a critical aspect of intelligence.
   Anyone who’s ever successfully taught anything realizes that teaching increases your capacity to reason. When you teach, you’re often required to view what you’re teaching from a variety of perspectives.
   
   

   “I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.”-Abigail Adams

   
   When you teach, it’s often essential that you question what you believe in order to deal with objections and oppositions that are sure to arise. Teaching is often more beneficial to the teacher than the student.


3. Get Into Action
   Action increases your capacity to understand a subject. As the old proverb goes, “In all thy getting, get understanding.”
   
   You can have information, and you can teach what you know, but you will never fully understand a subject until you put it into practice. If you want to significantly increase your intelligence related to cooking, don’t just watch the Food Network, and don’t just tell someone how to cook; you must master cooking yourself by trying, failing, and perfecting the act of cooking.
   
   You will always understand things better when you do them yourself. Knowledge gives you the pieces of the puzzle; understanding helps you put the puzzle together.
   
   

   “A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.”-Henry David Thoreau



4. Master One Subject
   Mastery is a sign of intelligence. Mastery comes from focusing on one subject until you fully understand it. If you can fully understand one subject, it will help you to better understand other subjects. In other words, mastery will increase your aptitude for grasping truths. If you can master playing the piano, you will better understand music in general.
   
   Additionally, if you can master any subject, you will understand what it takes to succeed.


5. Bonus: Watch More Television
   You probably didn’t see this one coming.
   
   By watching more television, you can become more “well-rounded.” Of course I’m not referring to watching more of the The Simpsons, I’m talking about watching television shows that offer an educational message such as political shows or shows on The Discovery Channel or The History Channel. These shows can increase your capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding as long as you don't choose educational shows that also stress you out.

By putting these principles into practice on a consistent basis, you will begin to take on the characteristics of an intellectual. You'll be surprised how far that can take you. Your capacity to learn will be stretched, your reasoning skills will be utilized, and you'll overall be a much more interesting and admirable person.

Do you agree?

6 tips to rock your career

There are millions of brilliant people pursuing aggressive careers who have their sights set on great achievement. While their efforts are surely nothing short of genius, many lack the soft skills that could really put them over the top. These are the qualities that make good people great. Practical and time tested, mastering the following fundamentals will make if difficult for success to elude you.


1. Out of Box Thinking
Many dislike this term but the concept works. All it requires is thinking about problems through a different set of eyes, or different dimension. Sit back and try to solve the problem from the eyes of a 6 year old, turn things upside down, and absolutely challenge the norm. Go outside and sit in a subway station (or somewhere you generally don't sit to work) and think about why other solutions have not worked. What has worked?

Remember the best ideas come from people who are hands-on with their work. When everyone thinks and recommends a lackluster approach, lackluster results will follow. Change your surroundings, change your views, change your thought process and come up with a killer idea!


2. Taking Ownership
When no one is willing to own it, be the first to grab the opportunity. A process involving various stakeholders normally loses momentum and vision suffers. A process with a good leader, input from others, and true direction, has a much better chance of success. Be the person that jumps in and takes on a new project (just don't over-commit). An ability to own a task and work towards success is a skill which gives long lasting returns.


3. Eagerness to Learn
After a certain period, a job becomes monotonous and people become bored and eventually even lazy. They lose all the zeal to learn new things and although they won't admit this, their actions would make you believe they have thrown in the towel and are satisfied with a status quo life and career. If you really want to move ahead, don't get into this rut. Don't tune out.

Always remain eager to learn; you never know what knowledge or capability will push you up in your career. Remember, you need an open mindset and positive attitude to approach work. If you are constantly learning, it will be tough to be or appear to be interested in mediocrity.


4. Willingness to Help
Much of life is give and take. Work is no exception. If you are the person that is constantly stepping out of your comfort zone in order to help others, people (most) will return the favor when you ask. That's the key though, you have to be willing to help someone and not too proud to ask them for help when you need it.


5. Solution Seeking Mindset
People love to talk about problems. However, when you ask for their solutions, they aren't willing to go on record with sweeping changes. The majority of employees lack an attitude to solve issues and prefer to keep them burning. A positive mindset can send the right vibe and give you a lot of attention. Don't avoid complainers, listen to them just long enough to hear the problem, then try to come up with a solution.

6. Humility
Arrogance never attracts more people than humility. When you know your work and are humble about it, there is no reason that you would not be appreciated. Humility needs to be pitched with much care lest people take undue advantage of you. Strike the right balance and you will see its real magic.


It is a jungle out there.You not only need to survive but flourish too. Develop a killer attitude for success and no one will stop you.

Gone fishin'

Everyone needs a break every now and then, and so I am headed off for a brief summer hiatus. I'll return to this blog in late August or early September with a new series of management insights to share with you! Enjoy your summer!

Gen X and Y appear to have an image problem.

According to a recent survey by JobFox, recruiters aren't too keen on Gen X or Yers. Only 20 percent said they were "generally great performers" as compared to 63 percent who said baby boomers (age 43-62) were great performers.

Ouch.

It gets worse. According to press materials, Gen Y (people under age 28) was also classified as 'generally poor performers' by the largest number of recruiters polled. Thirty percent of recruiters classified them as poor performers, followed only by 22 percent of recruiters who classified seniors as poor performers..

Double ouch.

But JobFox's CEO Rob McGovern thinks that managers and recruiters are missing the boat. Managers, he says, must "learn new ways to incorporate Gen X and Y views into the workforce."

OK, I agree. Managers and recruiters always need to be looking at how they can use an individual's strengths to help a company and boost the bottom line.

But I think it's more than that. I think both Gen X and Yers need to be better at their own personal p.r.. I think that if they wait around to get the respect they believe they deserve, they may find themselves waiting a long time. Because whether they deserve the slacker reputation or not, the problem is that it exists.

Believe it or not, however, you are being handed a golden opportunity to turn things around as the economy takes a nosedive. How? Let us count the ways:

1. Staying sane. Gen X and Y have lived a life of upheaval. They've grown up with AIDS, 9/11 and Britney not wearing any panties, so they don't get rattled easily. Right now the older folks in the workplace are pretty well freaking and stressing about everything from how to make their house payment to watching their 401(k) tank. If today's new workers demonstrate that -- while they understand the seriousness of the issues right now -- they are still upbeat and positive about life, it could have an enormous impact. Inspiring others to keep it all in perspective can demonstrate real leadership, and that's just the kind of reputation they need to develop.

2. Save others time. No one is more crazed these days that workers trying to balance the demands of their private and professional lives. But GenYers have grown up juggling, and have found technology enhances their lives. Young workers are in a great position to help other workers find ways to use technology to make their lives better. There's no way that anyone would be called a slacker for helping give someone more time with their kids or do their job better. Just be careful: You don't want your help to come off as smug or arrogant. Read Chris Brogan's post to make sure you do it right.

3. Provide the global view. The world has been delivered to GenY through television and computers since they were old enough to use a sippy cup. They have friends working in Darfur, they listen to bands from Japan and think nothing of IMing contacts in Istanbul or India. If they can keep their workplace informed on how events in Cambodia or Russia or Brazil may be impacting their business and bottom line, it could be enormously valuable. And let's face it -- those that contribute to the bottom line are seen as valuable -- and top performers.

While there are plenty of people telling managers that they need to treat GenYers better and learn to appreciate them, I think that GenYers may have to do some of the heavy lifting. They shouldn't wait around for someone to discover their strengths -- they should find subtle, but very meaningful ways to change perceptions that will have a real impact on their career success.

What are some other ways young workers can improve their image?

Is Your Definition of Success Making You Miserable?

Is your definition of success a fatal mistake?

For some, success is defined in terms of the dollar amount on a paycheck. For others, it's the title on their business card. Others may define success in terms of the accolades and awards they have won.

But the problem with how people define success these days is that when they're forced to change it, they can't. Look at the businessmen who have committed suicide because they have lost fortunes. Consider the workers who are fired and then go back to work, armed with a gun.

Extreme cases, sure. Not everyone considers killing themselves or others when their livelihood is threatened. But it does point out that maybe we need to revisit our own definition of success.

Start by completing this definition: "Success to me is...."

After you complete this sentence, then review it and determine if you're on the path to achieving that success. If you were to lose your job or money tomorrow, would your definition of success still be valid? Or, would you consider yourself a failure?

I remember a job where I worked long, stressful hours and often labored for a boss who had mood swings like a freaking roller coaster. It made for a tense situation, to say the least. One day I was talking to a co-worker and the exhaustion was overwhelming. I felt so dissatisfied, frustrated and even angry. Then it hit me: If I died that day, I didn't want the only thing on my tombstone to be "Always met his deadlines."

Ugh, I remember thinking. I wanted my life to account for more than that. It wasn't until months later that I started making some real changes in my life, changes that I know made me much better able to balance my life and devote time and effort to more than my job.

Right now, times are tough and some of us are beginning to panic. But I think it's a golden opportunity to really think about what is important in your life, and weed out the things that don't really matter.

You are the one who must define what success is to you. One thing I know for sure: You are more than a job title, you are worth more than a number on a paycheck and you are more than an award to hang on your wall. Is the destination you have in mind worth the road you must travel? Only you can answer that.

So, how do you define success?

Tick,tick,tick,tick, tick....

Let’s say you have a typical life and try to live it in the healthiest way. You might allocate your 24-hour weekday this way:

Sleep: 8 hours
Exercise: 1 hour
Work: 8 hours
Eating: 2 hours (leisurely)
Hygiene: 1 hour
Travel: 1 hour (Commuting back and forth)

That would leave you a whole three hours for time with friends or family, shopping, preparing meals, chores, errands, sex, and of course homework. If you have a dentist appointment, or your talkative relative calls, or if American Idol has a two-hour special, you’re tapped out.

It’s a challenge to live a happy life if you aren’t giving enough attention to all of those categories, yet doing so is nearly impossible.

One time management strategy is to become independently wealthy, freeing up eight hours a day. But that option isn’t available to many of us. And apparently it isn’t all that fulfilling because most rich people continue to work full schedules.

Another strategy is to ignore the fact that you would be slowly killing yourself and decide to sleep and exercise less. That frees up several hours a day. The only downside is that you get fat and die.

A third time management path is to work less than you could, live economically, enjoy each day as it comes, and try not to think about living on cat food when you retire.

Which strategy have you picked?

Well I am here to say there is a better way!

Time management skills are especially important for chronically stressed New Yorkers, who often find themselves performing many different jobs during the course of a single day. These time management tips will help you increase your productivity and stay cool and collected.

1) Realize that time management is a myth.
No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn't change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have.

2) Create goals.
Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not changing time. A good place to start is by figuring our what the goal is for your day. Prioritize everything else around this. You should start each day with a time management session prioritizing the tasks for that day and setting your performance benchmark, using something like the chart below. Put your day's tasks in one of the boxes depending on if it is URGENT or NOT URGENT to get to today, and if it is IMPORTANT or NOT IMPORTANT to your long term goals. If you have 20 tasks for a given day, how many of them do you truly need to accomplish today?

3) It’s all about PLANNING!
Think of this as an extension of time management tip #2. The objective is to change your behaviors over time to achieve whatever general goal you've set for yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you need to not only set your specific goals, but allocate your effort to meet those goals. Write down how much time you will spend on your priorities each day, and track them over time to see whether or not you're accomplishing them, and what is derailing you.

4) Eliminate personal time-wasters.
For one week, for example, set a goal that you're not going to take personal phone calls while you're working. Or you’re not going to reply to text messages as soon as they come in. Or you’re not going to check e-mails every hour and stop to respond to them. We eat up a lot of unnecessary time during our day by interrupting our productivity with other distractions. Control the time you spend on such distractions and you’ll accomplish more during the day. For instance, reading and answering email can consume your whole day if you let it. Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

5) Establish routines and stick to them as much as possible.
While crises will arise, you'll be much more productive if you can follow routines most of the time. Routines are time savers because they lessen the amount of time you need to decide what to do next.

6) Be sure your systems are organized.
Are you wasting a lot of time looking for things? Take the time to organize. Develop systems. Is your computer filing system slowing you down? Redo it, so it's organized to the point that you can quickly lay your hands on what you need. What other things can you organize?

7) Don't waste time waiting.
From getting stuck on the subway to doctors appointments, it's impossible to avoid waiting for someone or something. But you don't need to just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Always take something to do with you, such as a report you need to read, a checkbook that needs to be balanced, or just a blank pad of paper that you can use to plan your day. Technology makes it easy to work wherever you are; your PDA and/or cell phone will help you stay connected.

You CAN be in control and accomplish what you want to accomplish - once you've come to grips with the time management myth and taken control of your time.

Which one(s) of these ideas would work for you? Are there any other time management ideas can you think of?

Obama has his Cabinet--do you?

As Barack Obama continues in his first days in office, he'll be surrounded by trusted advisers.

Before he makes a decision, he's likely to consult members of his Cabinet. He'll probably ask their opinions on everything from foreign policy to domestic issues. In the end, of course, the final decision will be his. But he will make that decision based on input he's received from people he trusts and respects.

So, who is in your Cabinet?

You may think you don't need a trusted group of advisers. After all, you're not the president of the United States, and may believe that it's a luxury reserved for world leaders.

Not so. In fact, no one may need a Cabinet today more than someone trying to get ahead.

That's because times are tough. It's hard not to be pessimistic about the future, at least for the moment. But with a Cabinet in place, you not only can do a better job of keeping difficult times in perspective, but you can have in place people to advise you when times are bad -- and good.

Who should be in your Cabinet? Well, let's consider who Obama has chosen. Some descriptions that come to mind: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. His advisers are not shrinking violets -- and Obama has reportedly encouraged them to be true to themselves and offer their unbiased opinions.

That's exactly what you're aiming for with your Cabinet: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. Now, let's look at how you put a Cabinet together:

* Make a list. Think of those you've worked with in past and current positions, or others you've met through various professional or academic functions. For your Cabinet, it's best to steer away from personal friends and family members. You want people who are more concerned with what's best for you professionally, rather than just becoming emotional about what happens in your career.

* Don't rush. Putting together your Cabinet won't happen overnight. You need to carefully consider each person, develop a comfortable relationship with them, to be able to begin to access the strengths and experience they can offer. And, you need to be able to offer something in return -- this is supposed to be a relationship that is beneficial for them as well. Perhaps you'll be a Cabinet member for them or be able to offer valuable contacts or help when needed. If you don't think you can offer reciprocal benefits, you may need to consider someone else.

* Who has your back? In the working world it can often be tricky to know exactly who to trust. A person may say they have your best interests at heart, but actions speak otherwise. When looking for a Cabinet, think about who has covered for you at work without whining about it. Or, the person who gave you a heads up about a new project that you might like or the person at another company who alerted you to a great new job that was opening up. Your Cabinet members should be supportive of you, and show they have your best interests at heart.


* Be realistic. Your Cabinet isn't going to do your work for you. That's still your responsibility. They're in place to give you advice, to act as a sounding board and to give you their honest opinion whether you're doing the right thing or headed for disaster. Don't abuse their talents and don't take them for granted. Make sure you always offer something of value in return, and you and your Cabinet will go far in the coming years.

The time is now to begin managing your career. It can begin by building your own Cabinet or Board of Advisors. What are some other ideas or considerations for building a career Cabinet? Do you have any experiences to share about trying to build your own?