We all feel stress sometimes. Stress is the natural response of our body to help us deal with difficult situations. Without it, we would be unable to survive. The problem is that nowadays, most people have too much of it. This can not only be detrimental to your health, it can also hurt your career. That’s why it’s a good idea to figure out what stressors are causing you problems in your career or job and lessen them so you can be more productive and effective.
If you are having trouble losing weight, doctors will often recommend you keep a food diary. If you are having stomach issues, they’ll have you record food and digestive symptoms. Pain problems? Again, record your pain and anything that might trigger it.
If you’re having trouble with getting stressed, why not keep a stress journal? This can help you figure out not only what is causing you stress, but also what the most effective way to deal with it is.
When journaling, remember to include a few key variables.
Once you’ve kept your stress journal for a while, you can then start analyzing it by looking at your stress and looking for patterns. It might help you figure out what stresses you out the most or what coping technique works best for you. You may also find things you didn’t think you would, for example that you are less stressed in the evenings or around meal time.
The key in using a stress journal is actually doing something with the information you learn. If you’re lucky, you will find a simple solution, like using a coping method to stressors that seems to work better than others. Then you can simply use this method and reduce your work stress.
While it may seem to be a bit complicated, stress journals are fairly simple once you get the hang of them. This will not only help you work more effectively, it can also improve your health and even save your life.
Once you figure out what causes you stress and how to best deal with it, you’ll find yourself working and feeling better.
When asked what your current goals are, you may say “exercise more often.” That is not a goal, but a vague statement. If you state with certainty, “exercise 20 minutes every other day,” then you are setting a goal that is focused and achievable.
Let’s explore some techniques on how to focus on your goals and achieve more results.
Make a List
Perhaps you may have applied for a specific job, and decided to make a list describing your strengths and weaknesses. The same focus is needed to list your goals in order to achieve them, with one exception. Add a third column indicating a timeline. For example: Let’s assume you want to quit smoking. This will be the title of your worksheet. In the first column, list the number of cigarettes you smoke a week. The second column will feature the cost of purchasing cigarettes, and the third column will feature how much you cut down each week. Eventually, the number of cigarettes versus the cost will decrease the amount in column three. It is realistic, effective, and sends a subliminal message to your subconscious indicating the cost is outweighing the effect.
Prepare a Chart
In an Australian TV series about a cattle ranch run by women, the overseer had a chart in her room. It was her five-year goal. On the chart, she listed her educational pursuits; her first jobs; and her eventual goals, with her ultimate goal listed at the bottom. The uniqueness of the chart was akin to a chart one may obtain to list a family tree. Every goal met was checked off. Using red and black pens to underscore certain achievements, she was well on her way to her final goal; that of owning her own cattle ranch. In this case scenario, art did imitate life.
Charts are a way in which one can really focus and measure their ability to attain certain goals. If additional education is required; add that to the chart. If an internship is needed to obtain a prime spot in an organization; add that as well. Charts are maps which not only give direction, but keep us on the right path to success. So often we veer off, only to find we are lost and unable to navigate our way back. So too, a chart is a constant reminder of where we’ve been, and where we are going.
The next time you are determined to reach a new goal in your life, write down the steps that will guide you to it. Be specific in your detail, and use it as a roadmap to achievement. Focus on it; memorize it, and become empowered by it. You’ll never fail.
Most people don't treat job searching like a real job. A lot of the time that could be spent on finding a job is squandered. You can actually find a job much, much faster if you eliminated time wasting activities from your day to day schedule.
These are two of the most important ones to tackle.
Checking Email and Facebook
Checking your email is important when you're searching for jobs, because potential employers may contact you by email.
However, checking your email more than two or three times a day is just counter productive. If you're refreshing your email constantly, perhaps once every hour, you're just wasting time and energy.
The same is even truer with Facebook. Unless you're reaching out to your social contacts for job leads with Facebook, you shouldn't check it any more than once a day for a few minutes.
It's very tempting to burn time on the internet when you're job hunting. It can help alleviate stress and it feels like you're doing something. In reality however, it's wasted time that could be spent job searching.
Doing Nothing
The biggest, worst and easiest to fall for time waster is doing nothing.
Being unemployed shouldn't be a ticket to laziness. At least not if you want to find a job.
There are so many things you could be doing that'll increase your chances of finding a job. These range from fixing your resume to reaching out to your network to applying to jobs by email to even just by walking in the door of companies you want to work for.
Treat your job search as a full time job. Write out task lists and perform them systematically.
These time wasting activities can literally suck up as much as 80% of your time. If you eliminate them from your daily schedule, your chances of getting a job will increase exponentially. Good Luck!
Learning to value your time is an important skill that can help you achieve more and accomplish your goals. The one thing we can never get back is time. Here are just a few examples of how you can avoid wasting time; time that could make a difference in your daily life.
Avoid Wasting Time
* Think about the task before starting it.
* Try not to handle too many things at once.
* Do not begin a new project before completing the first one.
* Finish a project; don’t leave it hanging.
* Try not to double up on needless paperwork; keep it simple.
* Do not try to do everything yourself; delegate.
* Try to focus on the task at hand; avoid interruptions.
* When someone is speaking to you; listen fully without thinking of other matters. In this way nothing will have to be repeated.
* When running errands, call ahead to ensure your items are ready, if applicable.
* Schedule appointments either in the early morning or after lunch to avoid waiting.
* Ensure your home is clutter free; spending time looking for something is wasteful.
* Make lunch for the kids at night.
* Put your clothes out at night for the next morning.
* Ensure your car has plenty of gas at all times.
Time is a valuable resource; one in which we either have too much of or not enough. There are hundreds of insightful words surrounding the word time, and yet we never think about them until it’s too late. Do you have some time saving tips or ways to make better use of your time? Please share in the comments below.
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.
Turn on the news, read a paper or eavesdrop at the local coffee shop and one might think the world is coming to an end. Bad news seems prevalent and negativity is around every corner. However, around the other corner, and hidden in quiet smiling groups of people, is the reality that things aren’t as bad as it seems. In fact, some people are staying quite positive and even prospering during these interesting times.
Here’s how to stay positive during negative times:
1. Tune out the negativity. The news, the newspaper and even online media sites thrive and prosper on negativity. Eliminate them from your environment. If you need to know the weather, check the online weather sites, leave the television news off. If you need to know the sports scores, check the sports website. You can also have the information you’re interested in emailed to you or subscribe to a reader and access only the information, the positive information, you need.
2. Surround yourself with positive people. You really are a product of your environment and surrounding yourself with positive people will help you stay positive. And when the occasional person slips and dives into negativity, clearly and confidently steer them back to the light. Your disposition has an effect on others around you, stay positive and you’ll help others stay positive too.
3. Remember what you do have. Regardless of how bad things get, there is always something to be grateful for. Even if it’s as small as the pencil in your hand or the breath that fills your lungs. We live in an amazing and miraculous world, when we remember that and all we have to be grateful for, the sky is the limit.
4. Set small goals. Often we feel defeated because we didn’t achieve our goal. For example, if your goal was to make find a new job paying $50,000 a year and you fell short of that goal you may feel defeated and sink into negativity. However, if you set smaller goals, like to get a job in the field you want your career to be in, then you begin to create a pattern of success and those achievements, no matter how small, help you to stay and feel positive.
5. Reframe. You’ve likely heard the phrase, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Reframing a situation to look at the silver lining or to make lemonade helps you stay positive. So the next time something potentially negative happens, pull out the positive aspects of the life lesson, challenge, or situation. Reframe the situation to look at the bright side.
Staying positive during negative times can be a challenge. However, every small step you take to stay positive builds upon itself. Eventually, an eternally positive outlook will become a habit, a way of life, and significantly easier and much more fun than falling into despair.
Have you been struggling in work or in your personal life? Do you keep trying but it seems like everything you do is a waste? Are you starting to think that maybe success isn’t possible?
Well, I’m glad to say you’re wrong. In fact, there’s a decent chance you’re already doing everything right. The problem isn’t what you’re doing; it’s how you’re thinking. If you want to achieve success, whether it’s at work, at school, at home, or while you’re playing minesweeper on the library computer, the key to achieving what you want is positive thinking.
Whether through genetics, or through learning from others around us, most of us have been programmed to think negatively about a situation. We finish a project and instead of being excited, we are worried it’s not good enough or are already looking forward to the next project we haven’t finished yet. Or we look in the mirror at ourselves and only see the flaws, not the good parts. This thinking has permeated our lives. While we think it may help us see problems, it also holds us back. If all we see is negative, we become discouraged and are rarely successful.
As pretty much any successful person will tell you, the key to success is believing you will succeed. This even extends farther. The more positive your thoughts and attitudes, the more likely you are to do better. This is why teachers are encouraged to put positive comments on papers even if a child does badly. This is why businesses give recognition to employees who do well, because positive thinking works.
While this sounds like a great idea, we all know it’s not as easy as it seems. If you’ve spent your life thinking negatively, it can be difficult to retrain your brain to look on the bright side. Here are some tips for turning your mental frown upside down.
* Associate with positive people. Have you ever noticed that when one person walks into the office in a really bad mood, everyone else eventually gets a little grumpier? Attitudes, both positive and negative, are contagious. While you can’t necessarily spend all your time with positive thinkers, or completely avoid the negative ones, you can try to budget your time and resources to be in more uplifting company.
* Surround yourself with positive words and images. A few years back, there was a very popular poster of a kitten hanging in a precarious position that said “hang in there”. While it may seem silly to most of us, this kind of tool can be very effective. If cute and cuddly posters aren’t your thing, look up quotes, people, or images that you find inspiring and post them around your workspace. They will provide you a constant stream of positivity throughout your day.
* Keep a list of positive accomplishments. At the end of each day, make a list of things you’ve done that day or accomplishments you’ve reached. It could be things you’ve gotten done that day, or other positive things like making a co-worker smile or having a good idea. Just write down anything positive that happened or that you did. This will help reinforce your positive thinking and energize you for tomorrow.
If you take even small steps to improve your thoughts, you’ll soon find success much easier to attain. And even if things don’t go your way, don’t get discouraged - just keep it up.
Thinking about what you want in your career and how you want to achieve your goals is a very big part creating the happiness that you seek in your life.
Self assessment is an important part of figuring out what you want to achieve in life. Doing a self-assessment will help you gather information about yourself. It is a great too that can help you in making a good decision about your career and other parts of your life.
When you are trying to figure out your career goals, you need to think about your values, personality, interests, and the skills that you have. You will want to take a good look at everything that you have already achieved and where you want to go from there.
Think about your values and what they mean to you. Think about what makes you happy and where you want to be in a few years. Once you know all of these factors you will be better able to focus in on the goals that you need to set in place. You will want to make a list and keep it close by so that you can connect with the things that you have done and the items that you have left to do.
Take an inventory of your life and the goals that you want to bring to your career. There are going to be questions that you need to answer and this is going to be something that helps you better find out what you need to start doing. Motivation is something that is very crucial to your achieving goals and making the career that you want the most in life. List it all in order that you want it to happen and this will help you put your goals in sequence the way they need to be achieved.
Personality inventory is another idea to figure out what you want to do in your career goals. You need to look at your individual traits and the things that make you want more in life. Think about your attitude and how you can adjust it better to make your career enhance even further. You want to make your inventory list according to how you really feel and keep focused on these things constantly when you are working.
Listing the skills that you have is also important. You need to list what you already know that you are going to use in your career and what you are going to also have to learn. Education is something that you can always increase and you need to be aware of all the opportunities that are out there waiting for you. Thinking about the skills that you are already good at will help you build your confidence in the career move that you want to do. It is one list that you are going to want to use as a reference so that you can build on your motivation to begin satisfaction with the career that you are working hard to create.
