Monday, February 23, 2009

Laugh quietly. Smile only behind closed doors. Enjoy your happiness in silence. Exist boldly with caution. That's why they call it boldness. Expect the snare for it was created for you. Be too busy creating new successes that old failures don't have time to occupy your space. Be too good at being the you that exists in the now. Be focused on the you that you are creating. The you that exist at the end of the day. Laugh boldly. Run Faster. Scream louder. Learn to find solace in self. Let that give you deep satisfaction.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Re-ignite career passion

Human Resources

The Mid-Life Challenge: Make a Plan to Re-ignite Career Passion

Take Stock of Your Career Passion to Target a Career Change and a Career Search

From Craig Nathanson, for About.com

Nobody will stop you in the hallway at work to ask if your career provides meaning and personal fulfillment. Recognizing that something’s missing in your career and vocational life and taking the initiative to change must come from within.

Serena Williamson found a way to turn her passion — helping writers hone their skills in order to get published — into the catalyst for a new, more fulfilling life. Serena now runs her own small publishing house.

Software engineer Bonnie Vining needed a new career that would value her warm personality, not suppress it. So she left the high-tech world and opened Javalina’s Coffee and Friends.

After Anita Flegg lost her engineering job, she embarked on a program of self-improvement. The journey led to personal discoveries and her calling: She provides information and support to those who, like her, suffer from hypoglycemia.

I have found that many high achievers who lose enthusiasm for their work share common traits:

Their work has little connection to the things they really care about. Work is a barrier rather than a path to fulfillment.

While they may be doing something they’re good at, it isn’t something they want to do. Unfulfilled professionals haven’t taken time to align their abilities with their interests.

They have never made a long-term plan to guide them toward a more fulfilling vocational life. They tend to set short-term goals, or set no goals at all.

As they reach mid-life and understand the need for meaning, they turn to their current workplace as a source of what’s missing. Most organizations, though, are structurally incapable of providing nourishment for the soul. So the mid-life employee’s frustration grows.

Mid-lifers like Serena, Bonnie, and Anita take stock of their lives and careers. They develop a plan to re-ignite their energy and enthusiasm for work. The process involves a number of steps, but the common thread involves taking responsibility for making life changes. Read on to learn how¹.

Want to re-ignite your career passion? Take responsibility for making changes in your career and life.

Identify what’s most important to you, then develop and work a plan to get there. The plan should involve short-term goals that lead to a long-term objective. When Bonnie decided that engineering management was no longer for her, she applied the discipline of the corporate world to her new career: owning a gourmet coffee shop. Bonnie learned everything she could about specialty coffees and how to run a coffeehouse. She made good use of experts in the field. She then moved quickly toward her goal of opening Javalina’s Coffee and Friends in Tucson, Ariz. The thorough approach increased her chance of success.

Make a list of your abilities and interests, and then see how they match. You may be doing something you’re good at, but don’t enjoy. Instead, find something you enjoy and then learn what it takes to get good at it. Serena was fortunate that her vocational calling was right under her nose. For years she helped friends and colleagues improve their writing skills through informal coaching sessions. She realized that the gift for teaching others how to transform ideas into prose wasn’t just a hobby. It was a career and vocational calling. Today, she runs Book Coach Press, which has launched 13 book titles (including my own P Is for Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day).

Don’t be afraid to move toward your goals. Many people understand the need for change but are frozen in place. There’s fear that we may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. When Anita lost her engineering job, she avoided self-pity and instead grasped the possibilities of her new freedom. She began a journey of self-discovery that uncovered a long-undiagnosed illness, hypoglycemia and with it a new calling. She soon wrote a book on hypoglycemia. Now, she helps others understand and manage the disease. Anita turned what could have been a series of unfortunate events into a new calling that has brought career passion to her life.

Remember: No one will pull you aside at work, look you in the eye, and ask if you’re really happy with your career and your life. The power to understand what’s missing and do what’s necessary to find it is yours alone. Take responsibility for change, and change will happen.

Read Take Stock of Your Career Passion².

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craig Nathanson is The Vocational Coach™ and the author of the new book, P Is for Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day by Bookcoach Press and the publisher of the free Ezine, Vocational Passion in Mid-life. Craig believes the world works a little better when we do the work we love. Craig Nathanson helps those in mid-life carry this out. Visit his on-line community³

This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit: http://humanresources.about.com/od/careerdevelopment/a/career_passion.htm

Top 10 ways to be happy at work

Human Resources

Top 10 Ways to Be Happy at Work

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com

Working at Google sounds very cool. I'd be the first to tout Google as a motivating employer: free food, engineers who are enabled to spend 20 percent of their time on their own projects, and a work environment that fosters play and creative thinking. At Google, Genentech and other Fortune magazine top 100 companies, employers provide the best workplaces.

At the same time, perks that enable employees to spend all of their time at work exploit people and destroy work - life balance. So, even the best employer may not be best for everyone. These are the factors that will help you find happiness at work.

1. Choose to Be Happy at Work

Happiness is largely a choice. I can hear many of you arguing with me, but it's true. You can choose to be happy at work. Sound simple? Yes. But, simplicity is often profoundly difficult to put into action. I wish all of you had the best employer in the world, but, face it, you may not. So, think positively about your work. Dwell on the aspects of your work you like. Avoid negative people and gossip. Find coworkers you like and enjoy and spend your time with them. Your choices at work largely define your experience. You can choose to be happy at work.

Image: Copyright Rasmus Rasmussen

2. Do Something You Love Every Single Day

You may or may not love your current job and you may or may not believe that you can find something in your current job to love, but you can. Trust me. Take a look at yourself, your skills and interests, and find something that you can enjoy doing every day. If you do something you love every single day, your current job won't seem so bad. Of course, you can always make your current job work² or decide that it is time to quit your job³.

3. Take Charge of Your Own Professional and Personal Development

A young employee complained to me recently that she wanted to change jobs because her boss was not doing enough to help her develop professionally. I asked her whom she thought was the person most interested in her development. The answer, of course, was her. You are the person with the most to gain from continuing to develop professionally. Take charge of your own growth; ask for specific and meaningful help from your boss, but march to the music of your personally developed plan and goals. You have the most to gain from growing - and the most to lose, if you stand still.

4. Take Responsibility for Knowing What Is Happening at Work

People complain to me daily that they don't receive enough communication and information about what is happening with their company, their department's projects, or their coworkers. Passive vessels, they wait for the boss to fill them up with knowledge. And, the knowledge rarely comes. Why? Because the boss is busy doing her job and she doesn't know what you don't know. Seek out the information you need to work effectively. Develop an information network and use it. Assertively request a weekly meeting with your boss and ask questions to learn. You are in charge of the information you receive.

5. Ask for Feedback Frequently

Have you made statements such as, "My boss never gives me any feedback, so I never know how I'm doing." Face it, you really know exactly how you're doing. Especially if you feel positively about your performance, you just want to hear him acknowledge you. If you're not positive about your work, think about improving and making a sincere contribution. Then, ask your boss for feedback. Tell him you'd really like to hear his assessment of your work. Talk to your customers, too; if you're serving them well, their feedback is affirming. You are responsible for your own development. Everything else you get is gravy.

6. Make Only Commitments You Can Keep

One of the most serious causes of work stress and unhappiness is failing to keep commitments. Many employees spend more time making excuses for failing to keep a commitment, and worrying about the consequences of not keeping a commitment, than they do performing the tasks promised. Create a system of organization and planning that enables you to assess your ability to complete a requested commitment. Don't volunteer if you don't have time. If your workload is exceeding your available time and energy, make a comprehensive plan to ask the boss for help and resources. Don't wallow in the swamp of unkept promises.

7. Avoid Negativity

Choosing to be happy at work means avoiding negative conversations, gossip, and unhappy people as much as possible. No matter how positively you feel, negative people have a profound impact on your psyche. Don't let the negative Neds and Nellies bring you down. Take a look at:

And, keep on singing in the car on your way to work - or start.

8. Practice Professional Courage

If you are like most people, you don't like conflict. And the reason why is simple. You've never been trained to participate in meaningful conflict⁶, so you likely think of conflict as scary, harmful, and hurtful. Conflict can be all three; done well, conflict can also help you accomplish your work mission and your personal vision⁷. Conflict can help you serve customers and create successful products. Happy people accomplish their purpose for working. Why let a little professional courage keep you from achieving your goals and dreams? Make conflict your friend⁸.

9. Make Friends

In their landmark book, First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently (Compare Prices⁹), Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman list twelve important questions. When employees answered these questions positively, their responses were true indicators of whether people were happy and motivated at work. One of these key questions was, "Do you have a best friend at work?" Liking and enjoying your coworkers are hallmarks of a positive, happy work experience. Take time to get to know them. You might actually like and enjoy them. Your network provides support, resources, sharing, and caring.

10. If All Else Fails, Job Searching Will Make You Smile

If all of these ideas aren't making you happy at work, it's time to reevaluate your employer, your job, or your entire career. You don't want to spend your life doing work you hate in an unfriendly work environment. Most work environments don't change all that much. But unhappy employees tend to grow even more disgruntled. You can secretly smile while you spend all of your non-work time job searching. It will only be a matter of time until you can quit your job - with a big smile.

This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit: http://humanresources.about.com/od/success/tp/happy_work.htm

Managing Millenials...

Human Resources

Managing Millennials: Eleven Tips for Managing Millennials

Seven More Tips for Managing Millennials

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com

The millennials joining your workforce now are employees born between 1980 and 2000, or 1981 and 1999, depending on the author. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. Millennials work well with diverse coworkers.

Millennials have a “can-do” attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently – even daily. Millennials want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world.

They seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers, but expect that you will draw out and respect their ideas. Millennials seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom. Used to balancing many activities such as teams, friends, and philanthropic activities, millennials want flexibility in scheduling and a life away from work.

Millennials need to see where their career is going and they want to know exactly what they need to do to get there. Millennials await their next challenge – there better be a next challenge. Millennials are the most connected generation in history and will network right out of their current workplace if these needs are not met. Computer experts, millennials are connected all over the world by email, instant messages, text messages, and the Internet.

Eleven Tips for Millennial Management

Provide structure. Reports have monthly due dates. Jobs have fairly regular hours. Certain activities are scheduled every day. Meetings have agendas and minutes. Goals are clearly stated and progress is assessed. Define assignments and success factors.

Provide leadership and guidance. Millennials want to look up to you, learn from you, and receive daily feedback from you. They want “in” on the whole picture and to know the scoop. Plan to spend a lot of time teaching and coaching and be aware of this commitment to millennials when you hire them. They deserve and want your very best investment of time in their success.

Encourage the millennial's self-assuredness, "can-do" attitude, and positive personal self-image. Millennials are ready to take on the world. Their parents told them they can do it - they can. Encourage - don't squash them or contain them.

Take advantage of the millennial's comfort level with teams. Encourage them to join. They are used to working in groups and teams. In contrast to the lone ranger attitude of earlier generations, millennials actually believe a team can accomplish more and better - they've experienced team success. Not just related to age, watch who joins the volleyball match at the company picnic. Millennials gather in groups and play on teams; you can also mentor, coach, and train your millennials as a team.

Want seven more tips about managing millennials¹? Read more.

Here are seven more tips about how to successfully manage millennials.

Listen to the millennial employee. Your millennial employees are used to loving parents who have scheduled their lives around the activities and events of their children. These young adults have ideas and opinions, and don't take kindly to having their thoughts ignored. After all, they had the best listening, most child-centric audience in history.

Millennial employees are up for a challenge and change. Boring is bad. They seek ever-changing tasks within their work. What’s happening next is their mantra. Don’t bore them, ignore them, or trivialize their contribution.

Millennial employees are multi-taskers on a scale you’ve never seen before. Multiple tasks don’t phase them. Talk on the phone while doing email and answering multiple instant messages – yes! This is a way of life. In fact, without many different tasks and goals to pursue within the week, the millennials will likely experience boredom.

Take advantage of your millennial employee’s computer, cell phone, and electronic literacy Are you a Boomer or even an early Gen-Xer? The electronic capabilities of these employees are amazing. You have a salesman in China? How’s the trip going? Old timers call and leave a message in his hotel room. Or, you can have your millennial text message him in his meeting for an immediate response. The world is wide, if not yet deep, for your millennial employees.

Capitalize on the millennial’s affinity for networking. Not just comfortable with teams and group activities, your millennial employee likes to network around the world electronically. Keep this in mind because they are able to post their resume electronically as well on Web job boards viewed by millions of employers. Sought after employees, they are loyal, but they keep their options open – always.

Provide a life-work balanced workplace. Your millennial employees are used to cramming their lives with multiple activities. They may play on sports teams, walk for multiple causes, spend time as fans at company sports leagues, and spend lots of time with family and friends. They work hard, but they are not into the sixty hour work weeks defined by the Baby Boomers. Home, family, spending time with the children and families, are priorities. Don’t lose sight of this. Balance and multiple activities are important to these millennial employees. Ignore this to your peril.

Provide a fun, employee-centered workplace. Millennials want to enjoy their work. They want to enjoy their workplace. They want to make friends in their workplace. Worry if your millennial employees aren’t laughing, going out with workplace friends for lunch, and helping plan the next company event or committee. Help your long-term employees make room for the millennials.

By Internet research counts, 75,000,000 millennials are preparing to join or joining the workforce. These are desirable employees. Make your millennial employees happy in a fun, yet structured setting, and you are building the foundation for the superior workforce you desire. You are developing the workforce of your future.

As always, when I characterize a group of employees based on age, or any other characteristic, some employees will fit this description; some employees will fit part of this description; some employees will not fit this description. Yet, I believe that, if you heed these tips, you will steer your organization forward, more times than not, with a positive approach to managing your millennial employees.

Want to know why millennial management is important and four more tips about managing millennials²? Read more.

More about Millennials

Millennials Quiz³.

This About.com page has been optimized for print. To view this page in its original form, please visit: http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/millenials_2.htm

Puerto Rico - about.com

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico destination guide, including our picks for the island's best budget and luxury hotels and resorts, restaurants, attractions, beaches, nightlife, events and shopping.

Attractions (11) Nightlife (2) Beaches (1) Puerto Rico Events (1) Hotels and Resorts (27) Restaurants

Travel to the Caribbean: Puerto Rico Island Guide
It’s hard to believe that a destination this exotic is not only close to the United States (2.5 hours from Miami) but a part of it. When you travel to Puerto Rico, you’ll discover gorgeous white sandy beaches, delicious food, fascinating Spanish history, and extraordinary natural attractions.

Puerto Rico Airports and Flights
Looking to travel to Puerto Rico? Use this list of all commercial airports in Puerto Rico to book a flight to the city that's most convenient to your destination.

See more links below...

Lessons in Life from the President

Barack Obama

Lessons in Life from the President

Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Barack Obama

By: Peter Moore, Photographs by: Frank W. Ockenfels III

Name: Barack Obama
Occupation: 44th president of the United States
How he makes a difference: Showing how health and fitness can drive your success

You have to grant Barack Obama two things: He has accomplished a meteoric rise to the verge of vast power, and he's managed an innovative political organization that energized millions of people and raised even more millions of dollars. And regardless of where you stand on his fitness to be president, he has the fitness part of it down pat.

And on those grounds you can learn a lot from him, even if you didn't flick the lever for him on Election Day. Here's some of what we learned in an August interview.

Lesson 1: Learn from your father, even if he wasn't a good one

"Somebody once said that every man is either trying to live up to his dad's expectations or make up for his dad's mistakes. And I'm sure I was doing a little bit of both. But I feel that somewhere in my late 20s or early 30s I sort of figured out what his absence had meant. It is part of what I think has made me a pretty good dad. I don't think it would have too much of an impact on my decision-making as president. There's no doubt that it has contributed to my drive. I might not be here had it not been for that absent father prodding me early in life."

Get more from the Obama interview, including his lessons on: Leadership, Inspiring Others, Parenting, and Staying Healthy

Lesson 2: Be there for your family, even if you're not around

"I don't miss the important things. I haven't missed a dance recital. I haven't missed a parent-teacher conference. But there are some things I do miss, and those are some of the tradeoffs you make. But, look, there's no question there are sacrifices involved here. I'd like to say that quality time replaces quantity, but sometimes it doesn't. You know, a lot of the best moments of family life happen spontaneously. If you have less time to devote to them, there are fewer of those moments. What I've been able to do is create a zone of normalcy for my kids. Michelle's been wonderful about that. I have been able to transmit to them my absolute interest in them and my absolute love for them."

Lesson 3: Manage your time, manage yourself

"I'm part of an organization," he says, "and one of the things I really try to push in the organization is to make sure that everybody is focused on the two or three things that are really going to be game-changers. I ask them to design my schedule in a way that focuses not just on what's coming at us, but on being active instead of reactive. I think we've been pretty successful. I don't spend a lot of time returning phone calls or e-mails. If somebody needs something, most of the time there's somebody else who can handle it. Eliminating TV has been helpful." Wait, a confession: "I'm still a sucker for SportsCenter," he notes.

Go on to the next page for more lessons in leadership...

Lesson 4: Think.
"The most difficult thing is to carve out time to think, which is probably the most important time for somebody who's trying to shift an organization, or in this case, the country, as opposed to doing the same things that have been done before. And I find that time slips away."

Lesson 5: Quit smoking (as often as you need to)
"There wasn't some dramatic moment [when I quit]," he says. "Michelle had been putting pressure on me for a while. I was never really a heavy smoker. Probably at my peak I was smoking seven or eight a day. More typical was three. So it wasn't a huge challenge with huge withdrawal symptoms. There have been a couple of times during the campaign when I fell off the wagon and bummed one, and I had to kick it again. But I figure, seeing as I'm running for president, I need to cut myself a little slack."

He does have advice for people, like him, who are wrestling with the dependency. "Eliminate certain key connections—that first cigarette in the morning, or after a meal, or with a drink. If you can eliminate those triggers, that should help."

Get more from the Obama interview, including his lessons on: Leadership, Inspiring Others, Parenting, and Staying Healthy

Lesson 6: If you want to avoid disappointing others, don't disappoint yourself
"I always try to make sure that my expectations are higher than those of the people around me," he says. "A lot of people have a lot at stake in this election. The American people are having a tough time. And I never want people to feel as if I've overpromised to them. I try to explain in a real honest way how difficult some of the changes I'm talking about will be. But I never want the effect to be that I'm not working as hard as I can on their behalf . . . that I'm not continually trying to improve. I'm actually glad for the high expectations. One of the interesting things about a campaign like this is that it really does push you to the limit and then some. And it turns out that you have more in your reservoir than you expected."

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do
?site=MensHealth&channel=guy.wisdom&category=life.lessons
&conitem=7987743a7fddc110VgnVCM20000012281eac____&page=0

All-inclusive Gay-guide to Puerto Rico

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

As I See It...

Monday, February 23, 2009

I AM KING

Solace in Self

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Re-ignite career passion

Human Resources

The Mid-Life Challenge: Make a Plan to Re-ignite Career Passion

Take Stock of Your Career Passion to Target a Career Change and a Career Search

Top 10 ways to be happy at work

Human Resources

Top 10 Ways to Be Happy at Work

1. Choose to Be Happy at Work

2. Do Something You Love Every Single Day

3. Take Charge of Your Own Professional and Personal Development

4. Take Responsibility for Knowing What Is Happening at Work

5. Ask for Feedback Frequently

6. Make Only Commitments You Can Keep

7. Avoid Negativity

8. Practice Professional Courage

9. Make Friends

10. If All Else Fails, Job Searching Will Make You Smile

Managing Millenials...

Human Resources

Managing Millennials: Eleven Tips for Managing Millennials

Seven More Tips for Managing Millennials

Eleven Tips for Millennial Management

More about Millennials

Puerto Rico - about.com

Puerto Rico

Sponsored Links

Lessons in Life from the President

Barack Obama

All-inclusive Gay-guide to Puerto Rico

Welcome to "As I See It"

My Blog List

Blog Archive

About Me