Monthly Archive for June, 2011

THE LIFE YOU LIVE IS UP TO YOUR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS

Published by Ramon Greenwood on June 22, 2011.

Words of Wisdom

“The life you are currently living is the result of the thoughts you have thought and the actions you have taken in the past. The life you live in the future will be the result of today’s thoughts and actions.”

Jack Canfield in his book THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLES.

I wish you career success!

Ramon Greenwood, The Career Coach

Common Sense At Work

Closed

Career Advice: Where Will You Be Five Years From Now?

Published by Ramon Greenwood on June 18, 2011.

Where will you be in your life and your career five years from now? Will you be able to say you have reached the upper limits of your potential? Will you be satisfied with your position in the world of work? Will you be content that you have made your best effort to achieve success?

 

Obviously, there is no way of knowing the answers to these questions. However, it is just as obvious that your chances of being able to provide positive answers will be greatly enhanced if you resist the temptation to drift day to day along your career path, instead of engaging in a four-step process that I identify as “gap” planning

 

Plan To Achieve Success In Your Career and In Your Life

 

1.Take an inventory of where you are today…in your career and in your personal life. What are your assets? Do you have the education and training the rapidly changing global economy demands? If you are missing an ingredient for success how can you attain it? Are you driven by a burning desire to achieve success in your career and in your personal life?

 

2. Set clearly defined goals in all areas of your life, the attainment of which would enable you to feel that you have achieved success as you define it. Where do you want to live? What kind of position do you want to hold? What are your income goals? What are your plans for retirement?

 

3. Identify the actions you will need to take to move from where you are to where you want to be in five years.

 

4. Begin this day to work to the best of your ability to carry out this four-step plan.

 

It’s time to look in the mirror. Ask yourself: Are there any reasons I can’t execute this plan and achieve my goals?

 

I wish you career success!

Ramon Greenwood, The Career Coach

Common Sense At Work

 

 

 

Closed

Early, Wide-Awake Bird Catches the Worm

Published by Ramon Greenwood on June 8, 2011.
This blog by Mariana Ashley is focused on those men and women who are graduating from college this spring; but it is also applies to anyone working to build a successful career.
Graduation season is here, which means those fortunate enough to find jobs straight out of college will begin their new exciting adventures and be immersed into the working world. But being thrashed into the typical 9 to 5 routine is a rude awakening for most college grads, especially those that are used to starting classes in the late afternoon. While not being a morning person is normal, the truth is that you will need to condition your body in order to wake up early mornings feeling refreshed and ready to tackle your tasks at hand. And no, a cup of coffee isn’t good enough— caffeine dehydrates you which will make you feel even more tired as the work day progresses. Here are some quick tips on how to naturally awaken your drowsy body.
Get Plenty Of Sleep. While you may have been able to stay awake till 4 am playing on your X-Box and then mosey into class on 3 hours of the sleep, the truth of the matter is that this sort of sleep schedule will not be acceptable in the working world. Not getting the proper 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night will not only make it hard for you to get up in the mornings. Sleep deprivation is also directly associated with your work performance levels—it affects your concentration, you abilities to process complicated information and can even affect your level of creativity. And as you will learn early on, work is not like school; if you’re feeling tired you can’t just sit there and zone out as your professor gives a lecture. So get a good night’s rest each and every night.
Take a Cold Shower. One of the easiest ways to shake off any type of drowsiness is to take a cold shower. A cold shower will send your body into a shock that will immediately invigorate your central nervous system and make you more alert. The cold water will also help improve your circulation system. To awaken your senses even further, you might want to try and add a few drops of eucalyptus oil into the shower. Eucalyptus oil is a remedy that is used to revive faint victims. If it can make faint victims wake up, it can definitely help you revive from your zombie-state.
Massage Pressure Points/Exercise. Carefully massaging pressure points, such as the ones found in your ear lobes, can help get your blood flowing and send more oxygen to your brain—more oxygen will allow you to perk up with more ease. While massaging pressure points can help, a better way to get rid of drowsiness and reap longer lasting effects is to exercise in the mornings. The exercises don’t have to be too intense—a simple jog around the block or maybe just some stretches will suffice. Exercising can send oxygen through all of your muscles and make you feel completely energized.
Eat a Well-Balanced Breakfast. There is nothing more important than eating a well balanced breakfast to jump-start your day. It’ll give you the energy boost your body needs to function throughout out the day. This is because if you don’t eat in the mornings, your glycogen levels will start to diminish which means that by lunch, you’ll feel exceptionally tired. The perfect breakfast should include protein, carbohydrates and “some” fat.  For example, some yogurt with a cup of blueberries, a soft boiled egg with a piece of whole wheat toast or a whole wheat waffle would be ideal breakfast.
(Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges http://www.onlinecolleges.net/ She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.)
I wish you career success!
Ramon Greenwood, The Career Coach
Closed

ARE YOU OVERWORKED AND UNHAPPY?

Published by Ramon Greenwood on June 5, 2011.
Only four out of 10 employees in today’s workforce are satisfied with their job. That’s according to a recent survey by the Conference Board.
A major reason for this dreadful situation is that employers are demanding a lot more from their employees, most often without any increase in recognition and pay. (Just seven percent got a raise or bonus for extra work.)
Job descriptions are frequently ignored. Over half of workers surveyed by Spherion Staffing declared they have taken on expanded assignments without any change in their job description. Some are forced to perform tasks for which they have not been trained.
Many senior managers are assuming extra chores formerly handled by their staffs.
This environment has been spawned by the dismal economic climate. Often employers simply cannot afford to maintain a full staff, much less hire more employees. Others are reluctant to hire more people because they are anxious about what the future holds for their businesses. Higher taxes, more government regulation, a double-dip recession? At the same time, some have found that they can increase their profitability by holding down headcount.
These conditions are likely to hammer productivity as over-worked employees suffer from fatigue. Many times employees are called on to handle duties for which they have no training. When productivity slumps all sides are the losers.
Employers should be acutely aware of the workloads their employees carry–surprisingly, they are often not–and they should reward those who take on extra duties.
Employees should make sure their bosses are aware of the load they are bearing and speak up when they are stretched too far. When they are forced to deal with an overload they should ask the boss to establish priorities. It is far better to speak up than to keep accepting more and more tasks to the point that one begins missing deadlines and turning in below standards work.
There is another side to this situation that ambitious careerists should keep in mind.
When an employer is truly struggling to survive in these tough times, everyone should pitch in to shoulder more duties–at least in the short term–to help the organization keep its head above water.
Consider also that that there are opportunities for advancing one’s career, over the long haul, by proving one’s capacity for handling greater an upgraded workload.
I wish you career success!
Ramon Greenwood, The Career Coach
Closed