Advance Your Career
Find out how to increase your worth within a specific field. See if further training, education, certification, or licensing is a good investment toward your career advancement.
We are all told to plan our careers -- by friends, relatives, associates and almost anyone with whom we speak: "Plan what you want to do in life and do it!" Sounds so simple, doesn't it? Unfortunately, most of us plan our next vacation much better than we ever plan our careers.
Career Satisfaction
In addition to poor planning of our careers, various reports have...
Business meetings often include presentations to support and enhance the agenda. Various visual aids can be used, such as overhead transparencies, computer presentations or 35mm slides. You'll want to be informative and interesting, not to mention organized. So, when preparing your next presentation, consider the following:
1. Visual aids support your presentation...
Handling a piece of paper multiple times -- Take care of it the first time around, or put it in a specific file for follow-up.
Forgetting to re-prioritize -- With many interruptions during the day, we need to step back and evaluate when it is time to change priorities.
Procrastinating -- Postponing the inevitable is a terrible burden to carry around -- do it now!...
Start moving -- Get a change of scenery ... it revs up your blood flow, adjusts your focus and rejuvenates your tired muscles.
Do "crazy brainstorming" -- Come up with 15-20 potential solutions to a current challenge ... no matter how impractical. It reminds you that you do have choices!
Stick to the facts -- Address only what has actually occurred and avoid...
Know Your Own Style and How to Adjust It -- Remember that there are many styles of communication and you need to adapt to the other party.
Lock in on the Eye Contact -- It will make the difference in really connecting with others.
Schedule Time for Important Discussions -- Make sure you do not delay or avoid addressing issues.
Conversation is a Two-Way Street --...
Good manners can be one of your most important assets. Just in case your career fate is in the hands of someone who is a stickler for proper manners, it might be wise to read and practice the following 10 business etiquette tips:
Know how to introduce your spouse. Do not say, "This is my wife, Mary." Say instead, "This is Mary, my wife." Why? When you put the...
Many instances in our daily lives require taking accurate and comprehensive notes -- from phone messages, to job interviews, to detailed summaries of meetings and presentations. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Phone Messages
Jotting down a name and phone number may seem simple enough, but sometimes the "easy" tasks are taken for granted. Receiving an incorrect...
Learning to speak when we're toddlers is one of our most exciting experiences. Finally, we can communicate. We can let others know what we want and what's on our mind. Talking, which is second nature, represents the universal means of communication.
If talking is so common, then why do some of us break into a cold sweat at the idea of going to an event where we...
"It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."
- Somerset Maughm
Learning how to ask for what you really want and need is one of the most basic ways to meet your needs. And yet, when did you last ask for something? Most of us expect others to know what we need by reading our minds. Then when our needs are...
Using the phone is second nature to us. In fact, it's common to see people using the phone while jogging, going through the car wash and in airplanes. "Reach out and touch someone" is a phrase that sounds so simple, yet many of us don't know basic telephone etiquette.
Using Your Voice
We lose almost all communication cues when talking on the phone; you know -- facial...
"If you don't promote yourself, a terrible thing happens ... nothing!" -- Anonymous
You're a champ -- and you know it. You always go the extra mile, take the high road and exceed expectations. Trouble is, someone else seems to come out smelling like a rose by taking credit for your work. Or, you are always the one in the background because you think you are "just...
There are so many dangers in our daily lives, like going to work each morning on the freeway and watching for unforeseen dangers at speeds of up to 90 mph. Yet, the number one human fear is public speaking! Yes, the typical human would rather be the "guest of honor" at a funeral than the one delivering the eulogy!
You have already discovered that verbally...
The word "sycophant" hadn't entered my vocabulary -- not through reading, movies, TV or my own experiences. Then along came Dilbert ... and while I had known there must be a word for the unabashed yes-man, there it was in writing! A word for the "Eddie Haskells" of the world -- the person(s) in every office who misses no opportunity to promote themselves, steal the...
Casual dress is believed to be either the end of the civilized world or the best thing to happen to work clothes since the beginning of time. People from the old school tend to believe the former, while those from new generation, dot-com companies are more inclined to believe the latter. And since much of corporate America is still trying to figure out what is...
Meetings can be one of the most dreaded activities scheduled in our Daytimers. You know the type of meetings to which I am referring -- the ones that last longer than scheduled, even though nothing is being accomplished. You have to pinch yourself to avoid falling asleep. It's time to say that we're not going to take it any more and start protesting ineffective...
