September 21, 2006
| Improv Wisdom |
I believe in the 80/20 principle. Ultimately this can mean that you achieve more by doing less.
Patricia Ryan Madsen's book Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up aligns well with this vibe.
(there are not many reviews on Amazon UK but the Amazon.com has many 5* comments)
Here are Madsen's thirteen maxims (for more info - buy the book!):
* The First Maxim: Say Yes
Cultivate all the ways you can imagine to express affirmation. When the
answer to all questions is yes, you enter a new world, a world of action, possibility, and
adventure.
Invent a new proverb by speaking it one word at a time. Take a group of people; each adds the next most logical word to what has gone before. Do this quickly without "thinking" of a good idea. When it is clear that the proverb is finished everyone is to put on a "knowing, wise look," tap their fingers together in a prayerlike mudra, and say, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes . . . ," affirming the wisdom of the new proverb, which could be utter madness or perhaps pearly joy.
Keith Johnstone from his book, IMPRO: "There are people who prefer to say 'Yes,' and there are people who prefer to say 'No.' Those who say 'Yes' are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say 'No' are rewarded by the safety they attain." These words remind us of the power of the positive.
* The Second Maxim: Don't Prepare
* The Third Maxim: Just Show Up
* The Fourth Maxim: Start Anywhere
The realization that you don't have to start at the beginning can be a real "Aha" moment. You don't even have to figure out where the beginning is! If you take one action a second step will naturally reveal itself as needing to be done.
* The Fifth Maxim: Be Average
* The Sixth Maxim: Pay Attention
* The Seventh Maxim: Face the Facts
* The Eighth Maxim: Stay on Course
* The Ninth Maxim: Wake Up to the Gifts
* The Tenth Maxim: Make Mistakes, Please
* The Eleventh Maxim: Act Now
* The Twelfth Maxim: Take Care of Each Other
* The Thirteenth Maxim: Enjoy the Ride
Posted by Mark at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
| Fast-track degrees attract career-minded students |
THE new nine-to-five degree, which spells the end to three-month summer vacations, is proving a hit with lawyers, hoteliers and professionals keen to get ahead in the job market.
The National Center for Education Statistics points to soaring numbers of students over thirty-five seeking degrees. Today the adult education MBA has become the twenty-first century solution to getting ahead for mid-career professionals who feel they've hit a wall in their career progress. If you want to pursue a mid-life MBA, today's MBA schools are competing to offer you adult education options that put an MBA degree in your hands without disrupting your established career or your home life.
See more in The Times
Posted by Mark at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
| Shoot the Puppy |
If you're a cubicle monkey who eats lunch al desko, you may already be familiar with office speak. If not, this article introduces extracts from Tony Thorne's essential jargon-busting guide.
You could even read the article - it wouldn't be like kicking dead whales down the beach.
One of the better suggestions, to avoid vanillacide, blanding or excessive blandwidth, is to use a techinique known as "wild-carding" which consists of giving your client (or boss, or interviewer!) a list containing your favoured suggestions, plus at least a couple of ultra-radical, even crazy solutions. In rejecting the most extreme, they are likely to compromise on something that is still fairly daring.
Posted by Mark at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2006
| Boost your brain power |
1. Eat blueberries: Researchers at Tufts University in Boston found that blueberries are the ultimate brain food because of their rich antioxidant content. They help with co-ordination, concentration and short-term memory.
2. Learn to juggle: Juggling balls for 60 seconds a day can boost your brainpower significantly, found researchers at the University of Regensburg in Germany. They carried out brain scans on subjects and found that in those who taught themselves to juggle, certain areas of the brain had grown. DrArne May, who led the research, said jugglers had more grey matter - largely nerve cells - in the areas of the brain that process visual motion information. However, when they stopped juggling, their brains reverted back to their normal size.
3. Opt for Broccoli: Scientists at King's College London have found it contains anti-acetylcholinesterase subtances found in drugs used to treat degenerative brain conditions, such as Alzheimer's. Potatoes, oranges, apples and radishes are also good.
4. Get more iron: Inadequate levels of iron are known to cause a drop in concentration and energy. When Dr Michael Nelson of the department of nutrition at King's College London looked at the scores in verbal, reasoning and memory tests of 140 schoolgirls, he found that those whose diets were high in iron had higher IQs and performed significantly better in cognitive assessments. While supplements may be prescribed by a doctor if iron levels are too low, a diet packed with iron-rich foods will help. Red meat, leafy green vegetables, fortified breakfast cereals, sardines and eggs are good sources.
5. Don't skip Breakfast: When the exam results of 500 schoolchildren were analysed at the University of Israel, it was found that those who had eaten cereal on the morning of the exam had better results than those who ate nothing. A more substantial breakfast of grilled bacon and eggs seemed to have an even more positive effect.
6. Get moving: A study of secondary school pupils found that those who exercised regularly performed better in exams and tests of mental agility. Researcher Angela Balding, of the University of Exeter's health education unit, tested more than 1,400 schoolchildren and found sport or physical activity boosted academic success.
7. Have a little of what you fancy: A study of schoolchildren at the University of Florida found that those who ate lunch consisting of foods such as hotdogs, chocolate drinks, pizzas and biscuits recorded an improvement in test results.
Posted by Mark at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2006
| The Princeton Review Quiz |
Think of how happy you'd be to go to work each day saying to yourself, "I want to," not "I have to." The difference? It's simply matching the right person with the right place. For most people achieving that perfect fit isn't that simple.
This test only has 24 questions, where you choose between A and B.
Sample Results
Your Interest Colour is Blue
People with blue Interests like job responsibilities and occupations that involve creative, humanistic, thoughtful, and quiet types of activities. Blue Interests include abstracting, theorizing, designing, writing, reflecting, and originating, which often lead to work in editing, teaching, composing, inventing, mediating, clergy, and writing.
Your Usual Style is Yellow
People with yellow styles perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is orderly and planned to meet a known schedule. They prefer to work where things get done with a minimum of interpretation and unexpected change. People with a yellow style tend to be orderly, cautious, structured, loyal, systematic, solitary, methodical, and organized, and usually thrive in a research-oriented, predictable, established, controlled, measurable, orderly environment. You will want to choose a work environment or career path in which your style is welcomed and produces results.
Posted by Mark at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2005
| Disgruntled Workforce |
UK survey of over 5,000 job seekers reveals:
52% of the workforce dislike looking for a new job
37% of the UK workforce currently don't enjoy work
47% would like to change industries
30% of workers would resign if offered a more enjoyable job
In contrast, 26% are motivated by salary increases and 23% by promotion
41% use the Internet as a method for job searching
12% of employees quit their job in the first 3 months of employment, costing UK companies £2.5 billon per year
New research launched today by Jobsite, reveals an increasingly disgruntled UK workforce. The survey reveals that 37% of the UK workforce do not enjoy their time at work and that 47% would be interested in working in a different industry. The prime motivations encouraging people to seek work elsewhere are led by the desire for a more enjoyable job, with salary increase and promotion opportunities coming second and third place respectively. However, when motivated to look for new employment, 52% find the job search process frustrating.
Read more: Hate working, hate looking
Posted by Mark at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2005
| Secret |
Quote of the day:
"Create a vision of who you want to be; then live into that picture as if it were already true."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Posted by Mark at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2005
| How to be creative |
Here's a great list, by hugh at gapingvoid of 30 tips that work! on how to be creative, in art, business, whatever:
One for each day of the month.
If the month has 30 days.
1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.
24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
For a very entertaining, creative, inspiring full version of this list, with free cartoons,
visit how to be creative (long version)
Posted by Mark at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2005
| Career Planning |
If you want to do any of these things:
It's worth checking out the free "MAPP" test.
"MAPP" stands for "Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential" ; it takes 15 minutes to complete, but a lot longer to digest the results!
You can find out a lot about yourself and what your true strengths are.
You are given 3 statements, and you have to choose the one that's MOST like you, and the one that's LEAST like you.
This is not as easy as it sounds; for example Preference 1 of my assessment asked me to choose between these 3 options:
- Outdoor recreational activities
- Indoor recreational activities
- Recreational activities with people
Forcing a choice here might seem unfair, but it all serves to come up with an assessment that is amazing in its accuracy, even in the free version of the results report.
Posted by Mark at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2005
| Quote of the day |
Choose a job you like and you will never have to work a day of your life.
Confucius
Posted by Mark at 07:42 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2005
| Who Learns at Work? |
A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) investigates what 750 people who participated in a training activity at work in the 12 months before the survey - the customers - thought of the training they received. It looks at who received the most training opportunities, preferred training methods and how successful the training was.
Of the 750 respondents, 78% had received some form of training in the previous 12 months.
• Just over three-quarters (79%) of people say their employer provides them with enough training opportunities.
• Ninety-four per cent believe the training they received had helped them do their job better.
• Sixty-two per cent of respondents who have undertaken training in the past 12 months have explored with someone how useful it was to them in their work.
• The most common forms of training received are training held in a meeting room or classroom and on-the-job training. But on-the-job training is by far the most popular method, with over half (54%) of respondents rating it as their preferred method of learning.
• Only 16% of respondents have declined the offer of training in the past 12 months. The main reasons given by people for turning down the offer of training are that they are too busy (43%) or that the training is not relevant to their job (28%).
• Nearly a quarter of respondents have undertaken training outside work in the past 12 months.
• Those working in small businesses are less likely to receive training.
• There remains inequality in learning provision. Those with higher levels of qualifications are more likely to receive training, as are those in younger age groups. Part-time workers are as likely to receive training as their full-time counterparts, yet the evidence suggests they receive marginally fewer days per year.
Related links:
findacourse.co.uk
Posted by Mark at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
| Ask not what a company can do for you... |
Dear Susan,
In my search for work, I have sent out many résumés and had several interviews. I wrote an extensive résumé pouring out my work history. When I go to the interview, I am asked more questions and am often given little time to ask questions myself.
I am bothered by how little information the recruiting companies disclose about themselves during the interviews. Shouldn't the company provide a résumé of its own, stating the history of the company, its accomplishments and a short covering letter regarding its requirements of the employee?
-- In the Dark
Dear In the Dark,
Your question reminds me of the exploits of a young family member who shall remain unnamed. On a quest for summer employment, she dropped off several dozen résumés to prospective employers around town. Ten days went by without a word. When I queried how her follow-up calls were going, she looked astonished. "Why would I call? They have my CV with my contact information on it. If they were interested, they would call me."
That wasn't the first time I had to shatter her illusions and now I'll have to do the same for you. Unless you are Bill Gates or a newly minted orthopedic surgeon, you have to market yourself to the employer, not vice versa. Your role is to convince the company you are indispensable to them and doing your homework before the interview is critical to your sales pitch.
You can research the employer via the company's web site, by searching the company's name on the web, through public documents in the library and via your network. Openings are usually posted on a company's web site, but if it's a small, private company without a site, you can call to request the job requirements well before the interview stage. You'll know then whether you fit the bill and how to present yourself as "the one."
That's how Sara Nixon, a marketing co-ordinator at an international negotiation and coaching firm, landed her job. Ms. Nixon resolved to set herself apart from the competition with an unusual ploy. She created a prototype of a company newsletter complete with a fictional corporate logo, an article about the company's goals and another one about herself.
"I thought, if I were doing the marketing for this company, what would I do?," she said, one year into the job.
Not everyone has the moxie to create a marketing vehicle for a company they haven't worked for yet, especially when in the doldrums of a job search. It's an exhausting, demoralizing business.
Being handed an information packet that includes everything you ever wanted to know about the position and the employer would be lovely. Being given the time to ask a few thoughtful questions during the interview is simply courteous. But going into the process expecting both is setting yourself up for a fall.
Posted by Mark at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2005
| Parachute author Bolles is man on a mission |
Richard N. Bolles's classic is one of the top-selling business books.
When the career classic "What Color Is Your Parachute?" was first published, in 1970, it sometimes landed in the sports section of bookstores, next to the books about sky-diving.
That doesn't happen anymore.
"What Color Is Your Parachute?" has become one of the best-known career books of all time and made its author, Richard Nelson Bolles, a career/life planning guru.
In 1991, the Library of Congress named it one of 25 books that had made a difference in readers' lives. The 2005 edition is one of the top 20 best-selling business books, according to Neilsen Bookscan, which tracks sales for a variety of retailers, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Waldenbooks.
The book's influence can be felt in a number of ways.
For one thing, Bolles coined the term "informational interviewing," now a staple of job hunting. For another, he helped reinvigorate the field of career counseling.
"Dick is one of the founding fathers of the career self-help development movement - at least of modern times," said Randall S. Hansen, founder of the Quintessential Careers website.
The crux of the book is still "know yourself and find employers who need your passions and your skills." For ultimate success, Bolles advises, you need to find your mission in life.
Bolles has long been a man with a mission. A former Episcopal priest, he lost his job as a pastor in a budget crunch and moved into a position supervising college campus ministers.
He soon found that their jobs, too, were in peril. The question "What Color Is your Parachute?" popped into his mind in response to colleagues who were "bailing out" of their careers.
When Bolles decided to publish his own career guide in 1970, he remembered his old line about the parachute. Two years later, Ten Speed Press of Berkeley, Calif., picked up "What Color Is Your Parachute?" which it has published ever since.
Bolles uses the tone of a wise, funny uncle to give readers practical advice about how to assess their strengths, find a career counselor, answer interview questions, and navigate miscellaneous other twists and turns. "Wisdom," he said, "is often embedded in humor."
Recently Bolles was very ill. When the doctor asked if he could tell him the name of the president of the United States, Bolles replied "Chowderhead."
The doctor knew Bolles was kidding, and that he was going to be OK. Here is an edited version of a telephone interview with Bolles from his California office:
Why do you think the book has been so popular?
I think people like the sense of humor. I get a kick out of the humorous side of life. I found a cartoon that shows an employer saying, "You can name your own salary." The employee says, "You can call mine Fred."
What kind of changes have you seen in the past 35 years?
All jobs these days are basically temp jobs. It used to be the illusion at least that many jobs were semipermanent. One of the things that's happened markedly over the past 35 years is that no job is safe. People have to get better at job hunting because they're liable to lose their jobs at any time. They also have the freedom to take a job at any time.
What common mistakes do job hunters make?
They rely on three things: ads, employment agencies, and the posting of resumes. When these methods don't work, they assume that there aren't jobs out there.
I say, 'No, it just proves the methods you're using aren't very effective.'
Employers start with their own networks. They say, 'Hey, Charley, I'm looking for someone for work.' When job hunters ask how they should look for work, they should figure out how an employer goes looking for employees... The job hunter, left to his or her own devices, uses the exact opposite devices of those the employer is using.
Only as a court of last resort will an employer put an ad up. The idiocy of the job hunt is that employees are posting resumes when employers say their preferred method is to hire someone they know and trust recommends.
So how do you get yourself right in the path of an employer?
You have to have as clear a picture as possible of the kind of employer you're looking for. You have to figure out what you enjoy most doing.
People think employers don't want to know what they enjoy doing; they want to know what they're good at. But it's both. Once I was hiring, and one applicant said, 'I'd love to work for you, and I know just what you need.' The other one says, 'It's a job.' Guess which one I hired.
People ask me if the first rule of job hunting is to know the job market. I say, 'No, you should know about yourself.' The job market is second in line. The first thing the employer wants to know is are you going to be enthusiastic about the work.
The Internet is another big change you've seen, right?
Yes, and the Internet has millions of tests - most of which are free - to help you assess what you want to do. The Internet has five uses. The first is the counseling function, to help in assessing what you want to do. The second is the research function. The third is the posting by employers of vacancies. The fourth is résumé posting by job hunters. The fifth one is networking.
The two that people lock in on are the job posting by employers and the résumé postings by job hunters. The benefits of those two are illusory.
One out of every five jobs is filled by ads. The other four-fifths of all vacancies are filled by networking principles. That's the way most jobs are filled.
Less than 4 percent of people who use résumé posting or job postings actually find a job that way. The Internet is just the old job hunt dressed up in different clothes.
You've also seen some things that haven't changed...
Job hunting is essentially about human nature. Human nature doesn't change. Job hunting is more like dating than like buying a new car.
It's essentially like two people deciding whether or not they want to go steady. Some of the guidelines for job hunters - make sure you only talk half the time and answer questions in 20 seconds to two minutes, not more - apply to dating, as well. If you're talking about dating, someone who can't answer in 20 seconds to two minutes is a boor, and someone who talks more than half the time comes across as thinking, 'I'm more important than you.' Getting a job isn't about getting out from under a stack of 28. It's about, 'Mary Jane, do you want to have dinner with me tonight?'
Posted by Mark at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005
| Outsourcing |
Outsourcing is good for your career
But UK workers sceptical...
Staff fear for their jobs when their employers look to outsource work but the process could be beneficial for their careers, according to recent research from IT consultancy LogicaCMG.
Over 80 per cent of employees surveyed in Europe said they've had concerns - including worries about job security - when their employers considered outsourcing.
Yet seven out of 10 admitted after the outsourcing went into effect, they were more satisfied in their new positions than before; the same number agreed the change revitalised their career. Nearly half also said they view outsourcing as an opportunity to take on a more specialised role than they had previously undertaken.
When it comes to seeing as outsourcing as an career opportunity, though, UK respondents are the most pessimistic of the lot with one-sixth saying they saw the change as a chance to move into new industries. This compares with a third in Germany and the Netherlands and one-fifth in France.
UK employees are also more likely than the overall group to consider moving jobs if the transition to outsourcing is poorly handled, with over a third saying they'd seriously contemplate such a move.
The best ways for employers to deal with staff as they outsource work, according to LogicaCMG, are to talk to staff about why the company is making the change early in the process and to outline benefits to individuals as well at to the company as a whole. Management should also work closely with work councils, allow employees to give feedback and do their best to make present workers feel part of the new team.
The research is based on interviews with 200 individuals in the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany who have employers that have outsourced positions.
Posted by Mark at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)