We all get stressed out at work occasionally, but how do we know if it’s just pressure from a looming deadline or a more serious problem? Business stress is a common ailment in our society. We have tons of conveniences that help us do work faster, but somehow, this just translates into us having more work to do. It’s important to know how to tell if you have a problem and even more important to know what to do about it.
The first indicator of too much stress at work is an extreme dissatisfaction with your job. If you find you’re miserable when you’re at work and only dread going to work rather than enjoying your time off, you need to make some changes.
Stress at work can also cause physical symptoms. These include:
Stress at work can overtake your life. It can endanger not only your career, but also your personal life, and most of all your health. Many people have heard by now that stress can increase your chances of serious illnesses like heart disease, but the secondary effects can be just as damaging as well.
If you find your job is making you stressed out you need to take quick action. Not only will it make you feel better and improve your health, it will also help increase your performance at work. Here are a few ways to help ease your stress:
Address problems with your co-workers. This may mean working out differences or just establishing a privacy policy when your door is closed.
Address job-related problems with your boss. If your problems have to do with your job duties rather than the people in your office, ask your boss if you can have a one-on-one chat. You may find your boss will gladly make some changes in order to get your productivity back up.
Relax. Take small steps in your down time to reduce your stress level. This could include regular exercise, meditation, warm baths, aromatherapy, massage, or any other of a wide variety of methods.
Find a new job. If all else fails and you’re still stressed out, you might want to consider looking around for something else. While it may add stress for a while, it will pay off in the long run.
There are very few people, if any, who long to be unsuccessful. You don't just wake up in the morning and decide that you want to be mediocre. Most people long for more, but only a small few actually achieve the success they want. Just the same, successful people don't just become that way by accident. They have to work for it.
So what makes the difference between success and failure? What is it that successful people have that helps them get where they are? Here are just a few key traits of successful people:
Goal oriented. When you are sifting through piles of work, or are hit by a setback, it's easy to feel distraught. If you can't look forward and see why you do what you do, you're going to be more affected and more likely to give up.
Persistence. When you talk to successful people, you'll find a common theme. It's not that successful people don't fail, it's that they don't give up when they fail. They keep going and keep trying until they make it. Even if things go well for you in the beginning, eventually, the odds are you're going to fail eventually. You've just got to dust yourself off and keep trying.
Self-aware. In order to be successful, you need to know what you're good at. That way you can direct your path towards your positives and exploit them. It's also important that you be aware of your weaknesses, which is something that's a little harder for most people. By knowing your weaknesses, you can figure out how to avoid them faulting you, or you can take steps to improve on them.
Positive thinking. Have you ever noticed that when you're around someone who's excited and happy, you feel happier? And if you're around someone who's always depressed, you start to feel sad yourself? We are affected by what we are surrounded with. And the same goes internally. If we fill our minds with positive thought, we eventually start thinking more positively. And if you believe you are good at what you're doing and can accomplish your goals, you're going to try harder and longer to get them.
Creative thinking. There are thousands of businesses across the country and millions more across the world. These are all people competing for the same money you are. In order to make yourself known, you have to do something different. That will require you to be creative - through product ideas, marketing, customer support, or even in how you organize your office.
So, you're maybe thinking that you don't have most of these attributes, but that doesn't mean you can't become a successful person. The good news is that these behaviors can be learned. If success is something you really want, you just need to work hard, and find these things within yourself.
What other traits do you think successful people possess? Leave a comment below.
A business manager of a major auto manufacturer has set a five-year goal for himself. At the tender age of 29, he has accomplished all but one; buying a home. “This,” he states definitively, “will occur at age 35.” If you ask, how important is goal setting? In his case, it is very important. His success met the five criteria for setting effective goals: express goals positively; set precise goals; prioritize the goals; write down the goals, and keep the goals small, thus easier to achieve.
Why do we need to set goals to achieve? Without goals, there is no direction; no focus; no reason to become involved in anything worthwhile. More importantly, controlling that which we wish to achieve is how we live; how we operate our business; how we win a race; how we can enhance our skills; our performance; and how we gain self-confidence. Goals must be specific; not unrealistic. To say you will become a millionaire in a year is a goal you may not meet. However, if the measure of success is reasonable, it can be attainable using your own standards for success.
The pressures of society to amass great wealth in the shortest amount of time are based upon other’s goals and desires, not yours. You must have a clear understanding of what goals you are trying to achieve, and exhibit the skills and knowledge to achieve them.
Achieving goals based on one particular event does not in any way ensure success in another.
Grabbing the brass ring can be difficult. It may be just out of reach, but is attainable. Use the same analogy in achieving your goals. Set them just out of reach, but within your grasp; giving you the determination and commitment to reach for it. Keep yourself healthy, fit and free of diversions. Focus on the goal; and never lose sight of it.
Ensure you acquire the skills needed to achieve the goal. Gather as much information and knowledge as you can. Ask for help whenever you need to; it is not a sign of weakness.
Use whatever resources are available to you; make lists along the way. Many times ideas may crop up which will bring you closer to your goal. Never assume anything. Research every possibility. If a particular idea doesn’t pan out, try another; and another. Don’t give up; or give in.
Most everyone has a goal in life, from losing weight to winning the Super Bowl. Keep in mind, however, sometimes life gets in the way of the very thing you are trying to achieve.
It may be a momentary set-back, but don’t give up the dream, the goal, or the path that will lead you to it.
Doing well in a job interview is as much about mental preparation as anything else. A person who comes into an interview composed, relaxed and sharp is more likely to get the job than someone who comes into the interview nervous, tense and fidgety, even if they have a better resume.
Here are 5 ways to mentally prepare for your job interview.
Get Some Exercise Beforehand
Exercise gets the blood flowing through the body and burns up a lot of the anxiety you may be holding. It releases endorphins, which further relieves stress.
It helps relax muscles and creates more of a sense of aliveness and vitality. It'll help you create the impression that you'll bring a lot of energy to your new job.
Write Down Questions that may be Hard to Answer
Create a list of questions that you think would be difficult for you to answer.
For example, if you have gaps in your employment, write down several questions that your interviewer might ask you. If you have a specific skill that you're lacking, write down questions that the interviewer might ask about that.
Then construct the perfect answers to those questions. The idea isn't to rehearse specific lines, but to mentally get yourself to release whatever insecurities you had about any weaknesses you may have.
Write Down Why You're the Perfect Candidate
You don't just need to sell the interviewer that you're the perfect candidate; you need to sell yourself as well.
You need to be able to look in your interviewer's eyes and know for a fact that they're going to be better off hiring you than anyone else.
Write down why you are the best for the position and reinforce that belief in yourself. You must first believe in yourself before you can convince anyone else.
Dress Sharp
Dress sharp and professional for your interview. Look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself a nod of approval.
Going into an interview knowing that you look good and look professional can make a big difference on how you hold yourself and present yourself.
Mentally Prepare Through Imagination
In his book "psycho-cybernetics," Dr. Maxwell Maltz invented a technique where one visualizes themselves succeeding in whatever it is they want to endeavor.
He's perhaps the first person to invent this kind of systematic visualization. Since then, thousands of coaches have taken up this kind of success visualization.
Here's how it works: Visualize yourself in the first person in the interview. Feel yourself relaxed and confident. Imagine yourself hitting it off with the interviewer and getting the job.
Do this daily throughout the week leading up to the interview. By the time you actually do the interview, it'll be like you've already been through the process before.
These five tips should help support you in getting into the right mindset to successfully ace your interviewers.
Today the internet is widely used in the job search market. When someone wants to find a job, they often look online instead of checking the newspaper.
Because of this, it's becoming increasingly more and more important for candidates to learn how to write job applications that stand out.
It's important to remember that many of these job positions will receive dozens, even hundreds of applications, often within just a few days of posting their listing.
If you want to stand a chance of getting the job, you need to be able to cut through all that clutter and make an impression on the potential employer. Here's some tips to help you stand out.
Start With an Attention Catching Subject
The first thing an employer is going to do when they checks their email is scan through all the subjects. Your subject needs to jump out and grab their attention.
Try to highlight just one thing about you that might interest the employer.
For example, if you're applying for a programming job, good subjects might include:
"Former Google Employee"
"Security Expert Fluent in 7 Programming Languages"
"Programmer Who Gets Things Done - Examples Inside"
The Body Copy
Your first sentence and your first paragraph is your most important chance to get their attention. Present the most powerful things you have going for you as quickly and concisely as possible.
If you have a reference or a contact in common, state that right upfront. For someone who's getting a lot of emails, knowing someone they know can make a big difference.
Often times arranging your best points in bullet format will make reading easier than in paragraph format.
Keep it Short
It's tempting to want to go into all kinds of details about yourself and why you'd be a good candidate. Refrain from doing so.
Have no more than 4 short paragraphs or 3 medium paragraphs in your email. Your whole email should be about half a page long, perhaps even less.
Remember - Employers are scanning many emails at once. They don't have the time to read your whole email in depth.
Make it short and concise. If you get the interview, you can give all the details then
Have a Visually Appealing Resume
What looks good on a computer screen and what looks good on paper are slightly different.
On a computer screen, you can use just a tad bit more graphics to spruce up your resume without it looking tacky.
Definitely use a PDF attachment rather than a DOC attachment. It just comes off much more professional. If you have a cover letter, just put it in the same document as your resume as the first page. Don't use two attachments.
You've probably heard that, all things being equal, a company is much more likely to hire someone they like than someone they don't. In fact, even if all things aren't equal and the deck is stacked against a candidate, they're still much more likely to hire someone they like rather than not.
It's called culture fit, and both large and small companies pay close attention to it. How well do they think you'll fit in with the company and everyone else who works there?
Of course, the interviewers will use your rapport with them in the interview as a gauge of how well you'll get along with the rest of the team.
So how can you build rapport with the interviewer and the company you'll hopefully be working for?
Google the Company
Read everything you can about the company you're applying for. Read through news releases. Read every page on their company's website. Read what consumers are saying about their products.
This will allow you to walk into the meeting informed and able to actually speak about the company's products intelligently.
More importantly, pay attention to the company's values. What do they stand for? Are they trying to change the world in some way? Are they trying to make the most money possible?
If you can put your finger on the company's pulse, how they like to work, you can project that kind of mentality when you're in the actual interview.
Remember to also Google your interviewer. If you know who's going to be interviewing you, learn as much as you can about them. That will also give you more material to build connection with.
Techniques for Building Rapport
One of the most powerful and most effective techniques for building rapport is called mirroring. This works on a physical, verbal and emotional level.
Mirroring works because people subconsciously like people who are similar to them. They like people who share similar values and approach the world in the same way. Physical, verbal and emotional mirroring allows you to create more of that shared sense, deliberately.
Physical mirroring means holding your body in a similar way to your interviewer. If he's crossing his legs, cross your legs. If he seems relaxed, be relaxed. If he seems formal, be formal.
Verbal mirroring means matching their tone of voice and the kind of words they're using. If they're talking quickly and passionately, chances are they want fast and passionate people in their company as well. Mirror that back to them.
Finally, emotional mirroring is tuning into the same wavelength as them. This is perhaps the most difficult to pull off, as you actually have to share the same values to really project this. But if you can, you can build a lot of rapport with the interviewer.
If you use these two techniques in combination: 1) Knowing exactly what your interviewer and the company care about before walking into the meeting and 2) Matching your physical, verbal and emotional cues to where they're coming from, you'll be able to build a very strong emotional connection with your interviewer.
Negotiating pay is one of the trickiest aspects of interviewing for a job. If you do it properly, you can set yourself to earn as much as 25% more than if you negotiate pay poorly. If you're in the job for years or decades, that 25% can really add up.
On the other hand, bringing up pay at the wrong time or in the wrong way may actually reduce your chances of getting the job in the first place.
When should you bring up pay in an interview? And how do you negotiate pay once the topic is on the table?
The Timing: Wait for Them to Love You
If you were considering buying a house, would you talk about price before you've decided you're interested? Probably not.
You'll want to see as many houses as you can first, until you find one you fall in love with. Then you negotiate for the best deal you can on that house. You'll likely be willing to pay quite a bit more for the home you fell in love with than a house that you were just kicking the tires on.
The same is true when an employer is thinking about hiring you. They may ask questions like "What kind of salary are you looking for?" before they're actually serious.
But the best time for you, the interviewee, to really answer these questions is once the employer has already decided they want you on their team.
Once they've decided that, you have much more leverage. You'll be able to negotiate a much better deal.
In other words, try not to address pay at all until everything else has been discussed and it seems like there's a good fit.
Tips for Negotiating the Best Salary
Before you even walk into the room, do your research.
What does this company pay other people on their staff? For large companies, you may be able to find out by doing some in-depth searching online.
For smaller companies, you'll likely have to try to find out by talking to people. If you don't know anyone in the company, you'll have to gauge by getting a sense of the overall industry.
For example, if you're interviewing for a small solar company and can't find out how much they pay, instead try to find out the average salary for other people in your position in the solar industry.
Know what value you bring to the company. Know what problems you're solving for them that other people can't solve. This will give you a good idea of what you're worth to the company.
Finally, be willing to say no. Have several options so you can create the impression that you can walk away if they don't present you with a great offer.
Negotiating salary is both an art and a science. Be prepared when you walk into the interview and only talk about salary in concrete terms once they've already decided they want to work with you.
One of the biggest troubles about extended unemployment is that being unemployed can make it more difficult to get employed in the future.
It's not that employers are discriminating; it's just that in many professions, being unemployed also means your skills are rusting.
If you're an engineer for example, if you haven't fixed a piece of machinery for a year, chances are you're going to need some re-training when you start up on the job again.
If an employer is presented with a choice of 20 candidates and one candidate has holes in their resume that can't be explained, chances are that candidate isn't going to get picked.
But if you have gaps in your resume, don't panic! There are many ways you can patch those holes and actually have them come across as a positive thing, making you seem more employable.
Make it Seem Like You Developed Skills
If you're having trouble finding a job, why not spend an hour or two a day taking some sort of class?
Even if you just took one or two classes over a six month period, you can put the course in your resume. You can claim you took a personal break, but also used the opportunity to develop new professional skills.
This shows initiative and also gives the impression that your skills have improved rather than deteriorated.
Volunteer for Projects in Your Field
Volunteer to help with projects that are in your area of expertise.
If you're a graphic designer, offer to do some pro-bono work for various non-profit organizations.
If you're an engineer, why not help solar companies install solar panels for free?
If you're a lawyer, why not take on a few pro-bono cases while you're looking for your next employer?
By volunteering your time to worthwhile causes, you make your gap time seem like it was spent doing something meaningful, while also keeping your skills sharp.
Get Creative
There are many ways you can make it seem like your skills have stayed sharp or improved during your time off.
The main thing employers don't want to see is someone who spent 6 months or more doing nothing related to their profession.
Don't try to fake it. Instead, fill your gaps by actually doing something productive. Just one or two projects or one or two classes are all you need to fill several months of gaps.
Sometimes it feels as if we’re barely hanging on. Responsibilities stack up and tip the balance between what we have to do and what we want to do. Unfortunately, when the balance tips too far it can feel next to impossible to restore the harmony. The truth is, however, it’s incredibly important to find balance for overall health and happiness. Here are a few smart ways to restore harmony in your hectic life.
1. Schedule time for yourself each and every day. If time for you is simply something at the bottom of your task list, it’ll get pushed to the end of the list every single day. However, if you schedule it into your day and make it a priority, it’s more likely to happen. Remember that you can’t take care of everyone and everything else without first taking care of yourself. Self-care doesn’t have to be elaborate (though it can be), but five minutes of meditation, twenty minutes in a hot bath with a good book, or a walk around the block with a friend can be a great way to take care of yourself.
2. Lighten up on some of your standards. We tend to be a lot tougher on ourselves than on anyone else. We think we have to be perfect, have a perfect home, prepare perfect meals and of course always be there with a willing ‘yes’ and a smile. Nonsense! Cut yourself some slack. Your home doesn’t have to be ship-shape every minute of every day. Schedule 15 minutes a day to clean and ask your family to chip in. Meals don’t have to be five star - make ahead meals on Sunday and pop them out of the freezer and into the oven rather than slaving away in the kitchen for hours each day.
3. Know it’s okay to say no. Saying yes to everyone and everything will pull you apart at the seams. You just don’t have time to please everyone. The first and most important person in your life is you, and you owe it to yourself to only take on the things you want to take on. Saying no is perfectly okay. If you’re uncomfortable saying no, practice on smaller things until you become comfortable with it.
4. Leave your work behind. Whether you work for yourself or have a boss, it’s important to leave work in the office. You could work 24 hours a day, of course. Should you? No way! Separate your work and personal life and allow yourself to focus on them independently. Sometimes making a task list for the next day, before you leave work, helps you leave work at the office.
5. Utilize your resources. There are people who are more than willing to help you. Friends, family, associates and even people you can hire to help you. You can swap babysitting services with friends to give each other time off, or you can swap services with friends and neighbors. You can do their grocery shopping while they do your laundry, for example.
Additionally, there are many technologies you can use to make your life easier. Automatic bill pay helps reduce the time you have to spend paying bills, a concierge service can make and confirm your appointments, and recipe planning membership sites can tell you exactly what you’re making for dinner this week and provide a grocery shopping list.
Bringing harmony back into your life is about making you a priority. It’s about learning to put yourself first and sticking to the commitment. It’s about not expecting too much from yourself and learning to live in the moment. Enjoy life!
