Optimism In Gloomy Economy

Dale Carnegie Moments

We hear of doom and gloom everywhere, don’t we? We read it in the newspapers early morning; we hear it from the radio while driving to work, and we face it again in the evening news when we’re home and or taking it easy in the mamak stall. So how do we remain positive in this sea of negativeness? How do we turn tragedy to opportunity? Read on…
It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Banks are in trouble everywhere and economists are not sure if the developing nations will be able to hold up to the global economy. The International Monetary Fund is predicting conditions to persist until 2010.

The first thing we need to do is: -
DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ! There’s a famous saying that economists have accurately predicted 10 of the last two recessions. This means that things are never as bad as they seem. It is in the media’s nature to take a fact and dramatize it for improved readership value. Take the previous political upheaval in Bangkok, where tanks and soldiers poured into the streets. I called a friend there and he said “it’s a small thing, life goes on as usual. Don’t worry; it’s not like what we read in the newspapers”.

So our advice to you is, don’t believe everything you read.

The second thing we need to do is: -
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES! It’s the story of Yin and Yang, when there is a negative, there will be a positive. For every economic downturn there is a growing group of people who are very happy. Warren Buffet and Donald Trump to state a few. It’s funny how we all storm the Midvalley Megamall or Sunway Pyramids during the great big Malaysian sales (which somehow seem to be never ending nowadays). While when stocks and properties and various other investment vehicles are at a HUGE discount, we shy away from them. Everybody says buy low, sell high but hardly anyone’s doing it. Opportunities abound everywhere, even if we are cash strapped.

The third thing we need to do is: -
EDUCATE OURSELVES! Have you ever pondered what intelligence is? Is it in our genes? Is it nurtured? Intelligence is our human ability to take our past experiences to predict future outcomes. It’s a very unique human ability which animals struggle with. It is this ability that prevents Baskin Robbins from coming up with a chili steak ice cone, we can see and taste and predict the outcome before we even try it. This is what IQ tests look for, our ability to predict. But we can predict only to the extent of what we have experienced. So how do we gain experience? One way is through education. Read plenty of good books, go to seminars of the subject of your choice, and hang around the brightest people in your industry.

When we become the best at what we do, no matter what the economic condition is, we will always be wanted.

Edmond Yap
Performance Consultant
Dale Carnegie Training.

(Source: Dale Carnegie Archives)

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Nine Career Zappers

By John Robertson

Professionals are constantly looking to avoid these career "zappers". Read and see if any of these behaviors are impacting your career in a negative way.

Today, everyone is looking for the secret to business success. Professionals read books, take training classes, ask questions, study others that are successful and strive to outperform themselves.

However, some behavior patterns can develop into bad habits and cause even the most seasoned and professional person to self-destruct.

Let's take a look at some common behaviors that can put your career on the "skids". As you read these 9 behaviors you may recognize some areas you will want to change to keep your career on track.

The following are ten danger signs that can trap you and may "zap" your career.

1. Over Confidence: While you need a healthy dose of self-confidence to carry you through those tough times you also need to keep your confidence and ego in balance.

Keeping your ego in check will prevent you from thinking you are more important than those around you and missing out on their good ideas and solutions.

2. Time abuse: You only have 24 hours a day. Use each one of them wisely. Guard against intruders such as non-important phone calls, emails and messages that do not specifically relate to your job. Also make sure you save some time for personal development and pleasures.

3. Procrastination: Write the words "Do It Now" on a 3X5 card and post it where you can see it often. Then follow the advice. Make that appointment now, make that phone call now, reply to that email now, see your customer now.

4. Failing to communicate: The most effective professionals spend 80% of their time listening and only 20% of their time talking. They then spend 80% of their talking time asking questions. How does your communication ratio stack up to this standard?

5. Short-Sightedness: Approach your problems and decisions with a long-term view in mind. Ask how what you do today will affect the organization 2 years, 5 years and 10 years from now. While this does not mean every decision you make will have that kind of impact far in the future, however it is a good way to verify your thinking.

6. Loose lips: While at one time they may have been responsible for sinking ships, today loose lips most likely will sink your career. Be care of what you put in emails and what you say to others. Many a person has regretted making a casual comment concerning their job or company.

7. Not keeping good records: Are you using a good contact management tool? If not consider starting today. A contact management tool will keep important information about peers, customers, and clients in one easy to access place.

8. Stunted growth: Never quit learning. Become a better person and reach higher levels of success by continuing to feed your mind.

9. Not Delegating Some of Your Workload: Today almost everyone is doing the job that just a few years ago was done by as many as two people or more. If you don't delegate a portion of your work to others that are capable of doing the job, you can become overloaded and perhaps all of your other work will suffer. Take a look at your current workload, what can you pass on to someone else. Remember that delegating is not "work dumping" but transferring responsibility along with the authority and responsibility to get the task done. Don't forget to give credit to the person you delegated the job

Never believe you are a complete final product. Keep improving your skills and knowledge. Be responsible for your future.

Take a listening course; listen to books on CD while traveling or in your leisure time. Pick up a book and read it, associate with other successful people.

For more information on how to provide training for your employees on how to be more effective and prevent these and other career "zappers" please contact John at www.TrainingConnections.ORG for information on "Leading to Results" training.

John Robertson is a Professional Trainer with over 20 years experience in Mid to Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your meetings. TrainingConnections.ORG focuses on three major categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more information or check our web site: http://www.TrainingConnections.ORG

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How To Find Your Dream Job

By Adrian Savage

Nine practical ways to turn that dream job into a reality and get the kind of working life you deserve.

Here's the bottom line: a huge number of people are working in jobs that are not really what they want and less than they deserve.

Why is this? Partly the pull of inertia (better the devil you know...); partly lack of confidence in their ability to land anything better; but mostly the belief that either their dream job doesn't exist, or they wouldn't land it if it did.

So most of us settle for second or third (or fourth, or fifth) best and try to get on with our lives. We secretly cherish the dream of something better, but it never gets beyond the dreaming stage.

It doesn't have to be like that. You can take practical steps to turn that dream into reality. There are dream jobs out there, plenty of them. Maybe someone's doing your dream job, but for them it's second or third best. That's the element that almost guarantees your dream job is out there somewhere. Your dream is someone else's "okay" job.

How can you increase the chances of finding that dream job? Here are some practical steps that will send you on your way.

1. Look for "Upgrades"

Upgrades are roles that act as stepping stones towards your dream position. They move you forward. maybe not all the way, but at least to a place that adds something to your career and resume, while you continue looking around for that dream position. Think of them as steps on the ladder.

2. Keep up Your Enthusiasm

If the right opportunity comes up, you need to be ready. That means building your resume and polishing your track record to make you the obvious choice. for that dream job. It also means being on top form, whenever chance hands you the golden ticket. You can't fake enthusiasm. If your motivation sags, you won't have the "get up and go" needed to keep building yourself into the kind of person who gets that dream job. Read. Train yourself. Focus on the positives. Do whatever it takes to keep your enthusiasm for life on the boil. No one hires depressives.

3. Focus

The trouble with dreams is they're fuzzy: like a camera on soft- focus, all misty images of joyfulness and "happy ever after" endings. That's fine for day-dreaming, but it won't work to get results in the real world. You need to know exactly what you want -- in detail -- if you're going to see how to get to it.

A lot of so-called jobs are simply fantasies and hallucinations. Even the dreamers don't really believe they'll ever turn them into reality. So if your dream job isn't a practical, hard-nosed possibility, set it aside and try a few others on for size. Don't fixate on a single dream until you've proved it's possible in the real world. If you're below average height, fixating on being a professional basketball player is just an illusion.

4. Look for Opportunities Where Others Miss Them

Life is uncertain. It's unfair. It's also sometimes downright cruel.

It's easy to get depressed and lose heart. Other people seem to be on the fast track into the future, while you're still stuck in a dead-end role with a boss who blocks you from going anywhere.

But there are hidden opportunities in almost every situation. If the fast track looks inviting, remember that obvious opportunities attract the most competition. People on a public fast track are ripe for every kind of trick from their peers to bring them down or elbow them out of the way.

Meantime, you can find a less obvious path where there's no one competing with you.

5. Keep an Open Mind

It's easy to buy all the hype that proclaims certain kinds of jobs as the only ones that anyone sees as desirable. But that's simply fashion. It may be the "in" thing today to work for The Donald, but fashions are notoriously fickle. Only a few years ago, it was the "in" thing to work for a dot-com start-up, and look where that ended.

You're looking for your dream job, not whatever the media have decided to push this week. And what's a dream for you may not even be noticed by the high-profile "whiz- kids" who often go up like a rocket and come down like the stick.

Focus on what's best for you. And if that's unfashionable or not in vogue today, all the better. Less competition makes landing this job all the easier.

6. He (and She) Who Dares, Wins

You'll never find your dream job without taking risks. The trick is to avoid risking everything unless that's the only way to land that amazing role.

Look at industries or kinds of work that you might not typically consider. Try to talk to people who work there and find out what it's really like. Try to build up a financial buffer, in case the route to your dream job requires a period in education first; or even taking a pay cut compared with your current position. Just about everyone who succeeds also fails several times along the way.

Fear of failure and its imagined consequences is probably the strongest force that holds people in jobs they don't really enjoy and that use only a little of their abilities.

7. Be Ready to Do Some Trade-offs

Sit down and make a list of what you really want in a job. Not just the kind of work and the atmosphere around you, but also all the benefits and whatever else would make that job wonderful. Then put them in order of priority, from those you really couldn't do without to those you'd love, but could manage to let go.

You may never find a dream job that matches your list 100%. It may not even exist. But hey, 90% or even 80% of your dream may be a whole lot better than you have right now.

8. Learn How to Toot Your Own Horn

No one likes a braggart. But no one notices someone who never brings his or her accomplishment to the fore. Here's a secret every salesperson knows: people generally take you at your own estimation. If you present yourself as humble, ordinary and nothing special, that's exactly how they'll see you. If you take care to come across as confident, able and a good kind of person to know, they'll believe that's exactly what you are.

Act the part of your dream job long before you land it. If you dream of being an entrepreneur, act like one. If it's a top executive job you want, play the part and try to associate with current executives on equal terms. Attend meetings. Join discussion groups. Become a member of clubs where executives tend to be found. If you long for a creative job, start by hanging out where creative people are. Show an interest. Be seen to be part of the group from whom the person for that dream job will be chosen.

9. Find a Mentor

This is probably the single most effective action you can take to land that dream job. If you can find someone who knows the ropes (and the people involved) who will take you under his or her wing, you've dramatically improved your prospects.

A mentor can smooth the way for you, help you avoid the pitfalls and show you how to show yourself to the best advantage. All without exposing you to the kinds of risks you might have to face on your own.

But, best of all, a mentor can make sure the right people hear about you. It's human nature to look seriously at a recommendation that comes from a trusted source. If you go forward with the approval and support of key people, you're path will be much smoother all the way.

When you look at the histories of most of the people who make the headlines, in just about any field of endeavor, you nearly always find they had a mentor at a critical stage in their career. It's not everything (you still need ability, confidence and hard work), but it's almost everything.

If you do nothing else today to start your progress towards that dream job, get started on finding yourself a mentor. You'll never regret it.

Adrian has published in leading British and American publications and been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Chicago Tribune. An Englishman by birth, he lives in Tucson, Arizona and publishes Fat Cat Monthly (http://www.fatcatmonthly.com) THE resource for self improvement, personal growth and career development for knowledge workers; and E-Mentor (http://www.thevirtualmentor.net),an E-zine for people interested in applying ethical thinking to practical business leadership issues.

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Top 10 Tips for Career Advancement

By Bonnie Lowe

Here's a list of the top 10 tips you can use to advance your career:

1. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know." If you don't know something, say so; don't try to fake it.
2. Take responsibility for your actions. If you're at fault, admit it and take the blame. If you're wrong, apologize.
3. Never gossip. Gossip can hurt the careers of two people: the person being talked about, and the person doing the talking.
4. Never say "That's not my job." Don't think you are above anything. Pitch in and set a good example, especially if the job is one that nobody else wants to do. Your willingness to do so will be noticed and appreciated!
5. Share the credit. People who share credit with others make a much better impression than those who take all the credit themselves.
6. Ask for help when you need it. Don't let a difficult task get out of hand. When you need help, ask for it -- before things get worse.
7. Keep your dislike to yourself. If you don't like someone, don't let it show. Never burn bridges or offend others as you move ahead in your career.
8. Don't hold grudges. Life isn't always fair. If you were passed over for promotion, didn't get the project you wanted, etc., let it go. Be gracious and diplomatic, focus on the future and move on. Harboring grudges won't advance your career.
9. Be humble. When you're right, don't gloat about it. Never say "I told you so!"
10. Make others feel important. Compliment others, emphasize their strengths and contributions, and help them whenever you can. They will enthusiasitcally help you in return.
    

Bonnie Lowe is author of the popular "Job Interview Success System" and information-packed free newsletter, "Career-Life Times." Information on both, and tons of tips for job seekers, can be found at her website,
http://www.best-interview-strategies.com.

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First Day on a New Job? Seven Tips for Success

by Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D

You spent ten years with one company. Now you've switched to a new organization -- and possibly a new career. Your challenge is not only to learn but also to release old patterns that won't serve you well here. Here are seven tips to help you master this transition.

It's been a long time since you had a "first day on the job." Maybe you're left alone with a stack of manuals to read. Or you're expected to resolve a crisis, while strangers scream at each other, using jargon you don't understand. Both these scenarios are typical for newcomers. Neither signals a need to jump ship.

Your number one challenge: Be strictly professional. Do not share any concerns or misgivings about the job. Even if your boss appears to be breaking a written promise, tread carefully. The only acceptable answer to, "How's it going?" is, "Wonderful!"

If you are making a dual move -- job plus relocation -- you're "onstage" with everyone you meet in your new community. Your next-door neighbor may be your boss's cousin.

In today's market, your new employer probably had to go to bat for you before you even arrived on board. You may never learn how you got here. Maybe you displaced a long-time employee or your boss's rival wanted to hire someone else.

Spend your first six months collecting data. Interpret with caution, preferably with the help of an outsider who can offer perspective.

Maintain old contacts and begin at once to expand your network. Thank everyone who has helped you. Let them know that, while you are ecstatically happy, jobs can be unpredictable.

Begin to build your future. Set aside funds for your next adventure. Use your company's resources to build skills, earn a degree and generally make yourself more marketable every day.

Find a mentor who can be trusted not only to keep your story confidential, but also to challenge your beliefs and offer an experience-based perspective. Wet blankets and cheerleaders may not be your best choices: you need objectivity.

Many people find that hiring a coach, consultant or mentor can be a wise investment at this time. If you can avoid even one angry outburst or indiscreet remark, you will save thousands of dollars by keeping your job and maintaining a "promotable" image.

Your first six months will be critical to your success. I urge everyone to keep a journal, so you can look back to see how far you've come. Someday you'll be the old-timer, welcoming the new employee, watching to see what she's made of.

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., author of Making the Big Move, offers resource to help midcareer professionals take their first step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com