Margaret Thatcher was famous for needing only four hours of sleep. That’s the popular wisdom, at least; her critics might argue that chronic sleep deprivation explains some of the crazier policies of her latter year.

What researchers now appreciate about sleep is that, as your brain tires, it sucks energy (in the form of glucose) away from the areas needed from critical thinking, in favor of those areas that keep you alert. So you can turn up–you just can’t think very well.

What is striking about leaders, however, is that even those who do get a decent eight hours a night are mostly early risers. Helena Morrissey, CEO of Newton Investment, gets up at 5 AM. Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone gets up at 6. Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, gets up at 5 because, he says: “Life is too exciting to sleep.”

I suspect there’s a virtuous circle here: Great jobs make you want to get up early–and the better the job you do, the more exciting getting up early becomes. Waking late could be a sign not that you’re indolent but that work is, after all, not so thrilling.

What intrigues me about leaders’ daily schedules is what they do with those early hours. The very disciplined have learned not to start shooting out emails at 5 AM. At the very least, they park them in the inbox until 8. Some go to the gym, others use the time to think and collect their thoughts before the day begins. For myself, I like to wake up early and lie in bed thinking through the work that lies ahead of me. It means that, when I do get up, I feel mentally prepared. I love working in the house while everyone else dozes. But I also recognize that I’m lucky to do work I love.

If you’re sleeping late; what does that mean? Are you exhausted–or just disengaged?

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Margaret Heffernan and was first published on inc.com

It’s for your own good. Cut these things out of your day and you’ll see gains in productivity–not to mention happiness.

If you get decent value from making to-do lists, you’ll get huge returns–in productivity, in improved relationships, and in your personal well-being–from adding these items to your not to-do list:

Every day, make the commitment not to:

1. Check my phone while I’m talking to someone.

You’ve done it. You’ve played the, “Is that your phone? Oh, it must be mine,” game. You’ve tried the you-think-sly-but-actually-really-obvious downwards glance. You’ve done the, “Wait, let me answer this text…” thing.

Maybe you didn’t even say, “Wait.” You just stopped talking, stopped paying attention, and did it.

Want to stand out? Want to be that person everyone loves because they make you feel, when they’re talking to you, like you’re the most important person in the world?

Stop checking your phone. It doesn’t notice when you aren’t paying attention.

Other people? They notice.

And they care.

2. Multitask during a meeting.

The easiest way to be the smartest person in the room is to be the person who pays the most attention to the room.

You’ll be amazed by what you can learn, both about the topic of the meeting and about the people in the meeting if you stop multitasking and start paying close attention. You’ll flush out and understand hidden agendas, you’ll spot opportunities to build bridges, and you’ll find ways to make yourself indispensable to the people who matter.

It’s easy, because you’ll be the only one trying.

And you’ll be the only one succeeding on multiple levels.

3. Think about people who don’t make any difference in my life.

Trust me: The inhabitants of planet Kardashian are okay without you.

But your family, your friends, your employees–all the people that really matter to you–are not. Give them your time and attention.

They’re the ones who deserve it.

4. Use multiple notifications.

You don’t need to know the instant you get an email. Or a text. Or a tweet. Or anything else that pops up on your phone or computer.

If something is important enough for you to do, it’s important enough for you to do without interruptions. Focus totally on what you’re doing. Then, on a schedule you set–instead of a schedule you let everyone else set–play prairie dog and pop your head up to see what’s happening.

And then get right back to work. Focusing on what you are doing is a lot more important than focusing on other people might be doing.

They can wait. You, and what is truly important to you, cannot.

5. Let the past dictate the future.

Mistakes are valuable. Learn from them.

Then let them go.

Easier said than done? It all depends on your perspective. When something goes wrong, turn it into an opportunity to learn something you didn’t know–especially about yourself.

When something goes wrong for someone else, turn it into an opportunity to be gracious, forgiving, and understanding.

The past is just training. The past should definitely inform but in no way define you–unless you let it.

6. Wait until I’m sure I will succeed.

You can never feel sure you will succeed at something new, but you can always feel sure you are committed to giving something your best.

And you can always feel sure you will try again if you fail.

Stop waiting. You have a lot less to lose than you think, and everything to gain.

7. Talk behind someone’s back.

If only because being the focus of gossip sucks. (And so do the people who gossip.)

If you’ve talked to more than one person about something Joe is doing, wouldn’t everyone be better off if you stepped up and actually talked to Joe about it? And if it’s “not your place” to talk to Joe, it’s probably not your place to talk about Joe.

Spend your time on productive conversations. You’ll get a lot more done–and you’ll gain a lot more respect.

8. Say “yes” when I really mean “no.”

Refusing a request from colleagues, customers, or even friends is really hard. But rarely does saying no go as badly as you expect. Most people will understand, and if they don’t, should you care too much about what they think?

When you say no, at least you’ll only feel bad for a few moments. When you say yes to something you really don’t want to do you might feel bad for a long time–or at least as long as it takes you to do what you didn’t want to do in the first place.

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Jeff Haden and first published on www.inc.com

Country Manager, Adecco Singapore

SINGAPORE, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Femke Hellemons has been named as Country Manager for Adecco Singapore, assuming responsibility for the company’s general staffing operations across the republic. Adecco is the leading human resource and staffing services company in Singapore with a network of offices island wide. Hellemons takes over from Lynne Ng, who leaves the organisation after a 25-year career.

Hellemons joins Adecco Singapore from Adecco Netherlands, where she most recently held the position of Director, Managed Services. Her career with Adecco began in 1999, when she joined the company as a Branch Manager. After three years she became an Area Manager, before moving into her most recent managed services role in 2008 — a role that saw her highly involved in the strategic servicing of large Adecco customers in the Netherlands. She is a highly experienced staffing industry professional.

Christophe Duchatellier, CEO, Adecco Asia, commented: “With her extensive knowledge of the staffing and recruitment sector, Femke’s relocation to Singapore is timely with her leadership integral to the continued development of the company’s general staffing business.”

Hellemons, who graduated in International Management from Hogeschool van Utrecht, Netherlands, and who has also attended the Adecco Leadership Programme at IMD in Switzerland, has relocated to Singapore with her husband and two young children.

About Adecco

The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is the world’s leading provider of HR solutions. With close to 33,000 FTE employees and over 5,500 branches, in over 60 countries and territories around the world, Adecco Group offers a wide variety of services, connecting close to 700,000 associates with over 100,000 clients every day. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, career transition and talent development, as well as outsourcing and consulting. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company.

Adecco S.A. is registered in Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN).

adecco.com.sg

Here are four simple ways to ensure that every business conversation is productive.

Everybody knows how to have a conversation because they’ve been having them since they were toddlers. However, most people develop bad habits that almost guarantee that their business conversations will sometimes be meaningless wastes of time.

Here’s a simple four step process for making certain that every work conversation that you have is both meaningful and worth having.

1. Know WHY you’re having the conversation.

Every conversation must have a point, or there’s no point in having it. With friends and family, the “point” is often to simply enjoy each other’s company. You already know how to do that. Hey, relax and have fun.

In business, though, there’s always an agenda to every conversation, even if it seems as if the conversation is only to “get to know” you better (or vice-versa), until such time as your co-worker becomes a friend or a family member.

Therefore, whenever you start a conversation with a co-worker (and this includes customers, bosses, colleagues, and the guy who empties the trash), have an explicit goal in mind. That way you’re less likely to waste time and energy.

Similarly, if somebody opens a conversation with you, it’s worthwhile to wonder why the conversation is happening and why now. It’s not worth obsessing about, but if you’ve got a sense of the “why” it’s easier to get “where” the conversation needs to go.

2. Ignore your “monkey mind.”

The ancient Chinese believed everyone has a “monkey mind” that jumps from thought to thought, like so:

•What is she thinking about me?
•Will I make a sale?
•What if I can’t pay the mortgage?
•Gosh, that wallpaper is ugly.
•I’ve got to get the airport in two hours.
•Etc., etc., etc.

This constant mental noise pulls your attention away from the customer and towards your own perspectives, priorities and goals.

If you listen to your “monkey mind,” you’ll only hear a percentage of what the other person is saying. In all likelihood, you’ll misunderstand and misremember what was said.

3. Acknowledge what you’ve heard.

When the other person has finished speaking, re-describe, and characterize what the other person just said. This confirms that you were really listening to the other person, rather than your internal dialog (”monkey mind”).

It also prevents you from continuing the conversation based upon a misunderstanding. The restatement gives the other person an opportunity to correct your perception or elaborate as necessary to make sure that you “get it.”

4. Think and then respond.

Pause a moment to consider what you heard and have echoed back. Respond with a statement, story, or question that adds to the conversation and moves it closer to its point and purpose.

Having this kind of conversation is both difficult and easy. It’s difficult because some people’s “monkey minds” are the size of King Kong and chatter so loudly that they can’t hear anything else.

However, once you’ve learned to ignore the chatter, this way of listening, reflecting, and talking quickly becomes second nature. And that’s the easy part.

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Geoffrey James and was first published on www.inc.com

A reader recently pointed me to some “rules for a happier life” that various folks have posted in various forms. Here’s my take on those rules as they apply to the workplace:

1. Don’t compare yourself to others.

Everybody, and I mean everybody, starts out in a different place and is headed on their own journey. You have NO idea where someone else’s journey might lead them, so drawing comparisons is a complete waste of time.

2. Never obsess over things you cannot control.

While it’s often important to know about other things–like the economy, the markets that you sell to, the actions that others might take, your focus should remain on what you actually control, which is 1) your own thoughts and 2) your own actions.

3. Know and keep your personal limits and boundaries.

While your job might sometimes seem like the most important thing in your world, you’re killing a part of yourself if you let work situations push you into places that violate your privacy and your integrity.

4. Don’t over commit yourself or your team.

It’s great to be enthusiastic and willing to go the “extra mile,” but making promises that you (or your team) can’t reasonably keep is simply a way to create failure and disappointment.

5. Remember you get the same amount of time every day as everyone else.

You may feel you’re short on time and that you need more of it, but the simple truth is that when the day started, you got your fair share: 24 hours. Nobody got any more than you did, so stop complaining.

6. Don’t take yourself so seriously; nobody else does.

The ability to laugh at your foibles not only makes you happier as a person, it makes you more powerful, more influential and more attractive to others. If you can’t laugh at yourself, everyone else will be laughing behind your back.

7. Daydream more rather than less.

The idea that daydreaming and working are mutually exclusive belongs back in the 20th century. It’s when you let your thoughts wander that you’re more likely to have the insights that will make you both unique and more competitive.

8. Don’t bother with hate; it’s not worth the effort.

Hate is an emotional parasite that eats away at your energy and health. If something is wrong with the world and you can change it, take action. If you can’t take action, you’re better off to forgive and forget.

9. Make peace with your past lest it create your future.

Focusing on past mistakes or wrongs inflicted on you is exactly like driving a car while looking in the rear view mirror. You’ll keep heading in the same direction until you collide with something solid.

10. Don’t try to “win” every argument.

Some battles aren’t worth fighting, and many people are easier to handle when they think they’ve won the argument. What’s important isn’t “winning,” but what you, and the other people involved, plan to do next.

11. Remember that nobody is in charge of your happiness except you.

While some work environments are inherently difficult, if you’re consistently miserable it’s your fault. You owe it to yourself and your coworkers to either find a job that makes you happy or make the best of the job you’ve got.

12. Smile and laugh more frequently.

Contrary to popular belief, smiling and laughter are not the RESULT of being happy; they’re part of a cycle that both creates and reinforces happiness. Find reasons to smile. Never, ever suppress a laugh.

13. Don’t waste precious energy on malice and gossip.

Before you tell a story about anybody else, or listen to such a story, ask yourself four questions: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it kind? 3) Is it necessary? and 4) Would I want somebody telling a similar story about me?

14. Don’t worry what others think about you; it’s none of your business.

You can’t mind read and you don’t have everyone else wired into a lie detector. Truly, you really have NO IDEA what anyone is REALLY thinking about you. It’s a total waste of time and energy to try.

15. Remember that however bad (or good) a situation is, it will inevitably change.

The nature of the physical universe is change. Nothing remains the same; everything is, as the gurus say, transitory. Whether you’re celebrating or mourning or something in between, this, too, will pass.

16. Trash everything in your work area that isn’t useful or beautiful.

Think about it: you’re going to spend about a third of your waking adult life at work. Why would you want to fill your work environment–and that part of your life–with objects that are useless and ugly?

17. Believe that the best is yet to come, no matter what.

When my grandmother was widowed in her 70s, she went back to college, traveled across Europe in youth hostels, and learned Japanese painting, among many other activities. The last thing she told me was: “You know, Geoffers, life begins at 90.”

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Geoffrey James and was first published on www.inc.com

Can’t retire to a peaceful mountain cabin? You can still reduce the toll stress takes on your health by simply rethinking it.

Imagine your life without stress.

For about a second that peaceful existence living in a beachside bungalow or pursuing a full-time career as a ski bum probably sounds pretty good.

But very quickly it hits you: getting rid of the stress would mean giving up your business, possibly those pesky, stress-inducing kids, and all the other challenges that fry your nerves but give meaning and a sense of accomplishment to your life.

As Twitter co-founder Ev Williams put it: being a ski bum is boring.

Starting a business is exciting, but the side effect is stress, and stress is inevitably terrible for your mental and physical health. That wear and tear is just the price you pay for an exciting life, right?

Not necessarily, says a fascinating recent post by Columbia Business School’s Heidi Grant Halvorson on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Sure, she argues, stress may be inevitable for entrepreneurs and other busy professionals, but its destructive power rests not in its simple existence, but in how we think about it.

In short, science suggests that how we think about stress determines how harmful it is to our health:

The amount of stress you encounter is a surprisingly poor predictor of whether it will leave you worse (or better) off.

As it turns out, your mindset about stress may be the most important predictor of how it affects you. As [stress researchers] Crum, Salovey, and Achor discovered, people have different beliefs about stress. Some people — arguably most people — believe that stress is a bad thing. They agreed with statements like “The effects of stress are negative and should be avoided,” and the researchers called this the stress-is-debilitating mindset. Those who instead agreed that “Experiencing stress facilitates my learning and growth” had what they called a stress-is-enhancing mindset.

In their studies, Crum and colleagues began by identifying stress mindsets among a group of nearly 400 employees of an international financial institution. They found that those employees who had stress-is-enhancing mindsets (compared to stress-is-debilitating) reported having better health, greater life satisfaction, and superior work performance.

That’s awesome, you might respond. I’d love to transform stress from a likely risk factor for a heart attack into a learning aid but, alas, I’m stuck with my natural “stress-is-debilitating mindset.” Nope, says Halverson. The evidence points to the fact that your mindset is malleable.

“If you have been living with a stress-is-debilitating mindset (like most of us), you don’t have to be stuck with it,” she declares, citing a portion of the study in which some participants were shown short videos guiding them to think more positively about stress. The results: “Those in the stress-is-enhancing group (i.e., the lucky ones) reported significant increases in both well-being and work performance.” Check out the complete post for more details.

“All this research paints a very clear picture: stress is killing you because you believe that it is,” concludes Halverson.

Do you need to change the way you think about stress?

Editor’s Note: This article is written by Jessica Stillman and was first published at www.inc.com

Effective self-promotion lies somewhere between being a wallflower and a flaming narcissist. Find the sweet spot with these tips.

I suck at self-promotion. I think most of us do. We teeter between talking too little about ourselves or coming across as a flaming narcissist. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot–the subtle art of promoting yourself that invites others to take notice.

Here are some tips on how to get to that sweet spot.

Let your results speak for you.

People care about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do. Who hasn’t heard this a bazillion times? There is nothing quite like good old-fashioned results to get people’s attention. And I’m not even necessarily talking about a robust bottom line. What problem have you solved? What movement have you started? How have you led others to achieve something great? Accomplishing something of value is how you earn the right to promote yourself.

Promote others.

One of my partners, Ted Alling, is a master at promoting other people. He is eager to tell people how founders in our incubator are crushing it or how Chattanooga is evolving into a vibrant ecosystem where entrepreneurs are flocking.

What he won’t tell you is how he inspires scads of people to think bigger than they thought possible, how he is leading a start-up movement with grit and tenacity, or how he is one of the most determined and passionate people you will ever meet.

He doesn’t have to.

The more Ted talks about other people and their successes, the more confident and connected to him they feel, and the more they endorse him.

Ted is a living example of Maya Angelou’s great quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” He rarely talks about his own accomplishments. Yet, he is one of the most respected and catalyzing figures in this city.

People will promote you if you promote them.

Talk about what you believe.

“I believe in creating jobs and empowering people to feel useful at work every day” is very different from “I’ve started three manufacturing companies, employing 200 people.” It’s subtle, but do you hear it?

Talking about what you believe gives a nod to your accomplishments without explicitly saying what they are. If people are really interested, they’ll ask.

Admit your failures.

Admitting failure is a sign of vulnerability, which is one of the greatest leadership skills there is. Failure humanizes the path to success. And when we feel connected to another person on a human level, we are much more likely to advance their cause.

Logic and intellectualization can only get you so far. Authenticity and a little humility can take you farther.

Decide what you want to be known for.

Hone the skills that differentiate you from the pack, then let others brag on you. If you are too much of a dilettante, people will be confused about who you are and how to promote you. Instead, they’ll just say nothing.

Your job is to figure out your super power–what sets you apart–and do it better than anyone else. If you’re really good at something, people will flock to you for that skill. It may not be verbalized to you, but it will be evident by the sheer number of people you have knocking on your door.

Put yourself out there.

Then there are times when you just have to brag on yourself a little bit. If you do something really great, talk about it. Just talk about it to the right people and make sure it is, in fact, remarkable. The right people will be energized by your success, not turned off by your obvious self-promotion.

Editor’s Note:This article was written by Dr. Shelley Prevost and was first published on www.inc.com

Interview Questions: Everyone has them.

And everyone wishes they had better ones.

So I asked smart people from a variety of fields for their favorite interview question and, more importantly, why it’s their favorite and what it tells them about the candidate.

1. If we’re sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great year it’s been for you in this role, what did we achieve together?

“For me, the most important thing about interviews is that the interviewee interviews us. I need to know they’ve done their homework, truly understand our company and the role… and really want it.

“The candidate should have enough strategic vision to not only talk about how good the year has been but to answer with an eye towards that bigger-picture understanding of the company–and why they want to be here.”

Randy Garutti, Shake Shack CEO

2. When have you been most satisfied in your life?

“Except with entry-level candidates, I presume reasonable job skill and intellect. Plus I believe smart people with relevant experience adapt quickly and excel in new environments where the culture fits and inspires them.

“So, I concentrate on character and how well theirs matches that of my organization.

“This question opens the door for a different kind of conversation where I push to see the match between life in my company and what this person needs to be their best and better in my company than he or she could be anywhere else.”

Dick Cross, Cross Partnership founder and CEO

3. If you got hired, loved everything about this job, and are paid the salary you asked for, what kind of offer from another company would you consider?

“I like to find out how much the candidate is driven by money versus working at a place they love.

“Can they be bought?

“You’d be surprised by some of the answers.”

Ilya Pozin, Ciplex founder

4. Who is your role model, and why?

“The question can reveal how introspective the candidate is about their own personal and professional development, which is a quality I have found to be highly correlated with success and ambition.

“Plus it can show what attributes and behaviors the candidate aspires to.”

Clara Shih, Hearsay Social co-founder and CEO

5. What things do you not like to do?

“We tend to assume people who have held a role enjoy all aspects of that role, but I’ve found that is seldom the case.

“Getting an honest answer to the question requires persistence, though. I usually have to ask it a few times in different ways, but the answers are always worth the effort. For instance, I interviewed a sales candidate who said she didn’t enjoy meeting new people.

“My favorite was the finance candidate who told me he hated dealing with mundane details and checking his work. Next!”

Art Papas, Bullhorn founder and CEO

6. Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.

“I find that this question opens the door to further questions and enables someone to highlight themselves in a specific, non-generic way.

“Plus additional questions can easily follow: What position did you hold when you achieved this accomplishment? How did it impact your growth at the company? Who else was involved and how did the accomplishment impact your team?

“Discussing a single accomplishment is an easy way to open doors to additional information and insight about the person, their work habits, and how they work with others.”

Deborah Sweeney, MyCorporation owner and CEO

7. Tell me how…

“I don’t have one favorite question because I believe a great interview takes on a life of its own, becoming more of a conversation than a formal process.

“Ultimately we’re looking for people who are motivated, disciplined, good spirited, possessing skills and passion, so I ask indirect questions about the creative process, about articulating and demystifying the process of creating great food and great service.

“Then I trust my instincts. Reading the eyes of the candidate is a final test I’ve come to rely on–because the eyes never lie.”

Eric Ripert, Le Bernardin chef and co-owner

8. What’s your superpower, or what’s your spirit animal?

“During her interview I asked my current executive assistant what was her favorite animal. She told me it was a duck, because ducks are calm on the surface and hustling like crazy getting things done under the surface.

“I think this was an amazing response and a perfect description for the role of an EA. For the record, she’s been working with us for over a year now and is amazing at her job.”

Ryan Holmes, HootSuite CEO

9. Why have you had x amount of jobs in y years?

“This question helps me get a full picture of the candidate’s work history. What keeps them motivated? Why, if they have, did they jump from job to job? And what is the key factor when they leave?

“The answer shows me their loyalty and their reasoning process. Do they believe someone always keeps them down (managers, bosses, etc.)? Do they get bored easily?

“There is nothing inherently wrong with moving from job to job–the reasons why are what matters.”

Shama Kabani, The Marketing Zen Group founder and CEO

10. We’re constantly making things better, faster, smarter or less expensive. We leverage technology or improve processes. In other words, we strive to do more–with less. Tell me about a recent project or problem that you made better, faster, smarter, more efficient, or less expensive.

“Good candidates will have lots of answers to this question. Great candidates will get excited as they share their answers.

“In 13 years we’ve only passed along one price increase to our customers. That’s not because our costs have decreased–quite the contrary. We’ve been able to maintain our prices because we’ve gotten better at what we do. Our team, at every level, has their ears to the ground looking for problems to solve.

“Every new employee needs to do that, too.”

Edward Wimmer, RoadID co-founder and co-owner

11. Discuss a specific accomplishment you’ve achieved in a previous position that indicates you will thrive in this position.

“Past performance is usually the best indicator of future success.

“If the candidate can’t point to a prior accomplishment, they are unlikely to be able to accomplish much at our organization–or yours.”

Dave Lavinsky, Growthink co-founder and president

12. So, (insert name), what’s your story?

“This inane question immediately puts an interviewee on the defensive because there is no right answer or wrong answer. But there is an answer.

“It’s a question that asks for a creative response. It’s an invitation to the candidate to play the game and see where it goes without worrying about the right answer. By playing along, it tells me a lot about the character, imagination, and inventiveness of the person.

“The question, as obtuse as it might sound to the interviewee, is the beginning of a story and in today’s world of selling oneself, or one’s company, it’s the ability to tell a story and create a feeling that sells the brand–whether it’s a product or a person.

“The way they look at me when the question is asked also tells me something about their likeability. If they act defensive, look uncomfortable, and pause longer than a few seconds, it tells me they probably take things too literally and are not broad thinkers. In our business we need broad thinkers.”

Richard Funess, Finn Partners managing partner

13. What questions do you have for me?

“I love asking this question really early in the interview–it shows me whether the candidate can think quickly on their feet, and also reveals their level of preparation and strategic thinking.

“I often find you can learn more about a person based on the questions they ask versus the answers they give.”

Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and CEO

14. Tell us about a time when things didn’t go the way you wanted– like a promotion you wanted and didn’t get, or a project that didn’t turn out how you had hoped.

“It’s a simple question that says so much. Candidates may say they understand the importance of working as a team but that doesn’t mean they actually know how to work as a team. We need self-starters that will view their position as a partnership.

“Answers tend to fall into three basic categories: 1) blame 2) self-deprecation, or 3) opportunity for growth.

“Our company requires focused employees willing to wear many hats and sometimes go above and beyond the job description, so I want team players with the right attitude and approach. If the candidate points fingers, blames, goes negative on former employers, communicates with a sense of entitlement, or speaks in terms of their role as an individual as opposed to their position as a partnership, he or she won’t do well here.

“But if they take responsibility and are eager to put what they have learned to work, they will thrive in our meritocracy.”

Tony Knopp, Spotlight Ticket Management co-founder and CEO

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Jeff Harden and was first published on www.inc.com

There are a lot of myths surrounding the state of mind known as “happiness.” Here’s how you can break them down and start on your own path.

Two months ago a new client entered my office for her first counseling session. “All I want is to feel happy,” she said. “I’m miserable and I focus on that misery all day long.”

It seemed like a fairly simple request, so we went to work.

Week after week I witnessed the smile on my client’s face becoming more consistent, more authentic. Soon she began talking about the laughter and pleasant activities that now fill her days. So I asked whether she thought that we had achieved her happiness goal. I was surprised when she said “no.”

What I learned is that this vibrant woman believed that in order to characterize herself as happy she could never feel sad. To her, sadness and other unpleasant feelings are not allowed in the life of someone who defines themselves as a happy person. But that is not what the human experience is actually about.

Remember, life doles out the knocks. And if we don’t allow a natural progression of the resulting unpleasant feelings we will never fully experience and embrace the joy in life. That’s right; where there is black, there is white, it’s just how nature works. There are two complementary forces that make up all aspects of life and we must allow and accept their balance.

This is the understanding that my client was missing.

And it begs the question: Happiness–what is it, really?

In simplest form, happiness is a state of being. Sure, our circumstances influence the level of happiness we can access, but happiness is within us, not around us. We all have it, but we each define it differently and have varying expectations of ourselves and our own abilities to be happy. And that is what causes the confusion.

It’s perfectly OK to have moments or days of feeling bad, rather than good. Heck, it’s necessary. When we resist the feelings that we categorize as unpleasant, it simply causes more resistance, leading to greater unhappiness. Let’s debunk the happiness myth. These steps might just help you develop a healthy–and, dare I say, happy–life balance.

1. Build a solid foundation.

Martin Seligman is one of the leading researchers in positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness. Seligman describes happiness as having three parts: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure is the “feel good” part of happiness. Engagement refers to living a “good life” of work, family, friends, and hobbies. Meaning refers to using our strengths to contribute to a larger purpose. Seligman says that all three are important, but that of the three, engagement and meaning make the most difference to living a happy life.

Revisit your relationships. Are they satisfactory? Do you have a good support network in place? If not, work on building it up. When you hit a bump in the road having supportive people around you will make a world of difference.

Also, review how you contribute to a larger purpose. Focusing on something bigger than you are helps to keep things in perspective.

2. Set realistic expectations.

You are human. Forcing or faking happiness leads to misery and conflict. Even if you create your happiness foundation and achieve a state of general well-being, you will have your ups and downs. It’s how you deal with those fluctuations that matters. Condemnation and negativity will jeopardize your state of balance. Get real. Eliminate the pressure and you will bounce back more quickly.

3. Allow your feelings, rather than resisting them.

There are days when you will wake up feeling unhappy. Whether you fully understand it or not, it’s important to accept that this happens. Be patient with yourself. Don’t complain, but do indulge in a little time to examine your feelings without criticism. Rather than, “I hate when I feel like this,” try “It’s interesting that I have these feelings.” Be OK with it and examine the feelings for a little while if they merit your attention. If not, simply turn your focus to your larger purpose to prevent yourself from dwelling on something that isn’t dwell-worthy.

4. Be ready for change.

Ups and downs are normal, but if you find yourself in what feels like a constant state of unhappiness it’s important to listen to what your body and mind are telling you. Life has a funny way of tapping us on the shoulder when we need to create change. If you don’t pay attention to the gentle tapping, you may be surprised by a less gentle reminder–or series of them. Either way, your subconscious mind will get your attention to suggest, or force, change. So make it easy on yourself and pay attention to the gentle tap. What is the cause of your unhappiness? Find someone who can help you sort through it, and embrace the change that lies ahead. You are on your way.

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Marla Tabaka and was first published on www.inc.com.

Darlene Price, author of Well Said! Presentations and Conversations That Get Results, concurs. “Words matter,” she says. “They are a key component of persuasive communication. Regardless of the audience, topic, or industry, or whether the setting is a stand-up presentation, sit-down conversation, telephone discussion, or an online meeting, a leader uses language to influence someone’s mind in order to achieve a certain result. That’s one reason they’re seen as leaders; their words compel people to follow.”

Therefore, if you want to be perceived as a leader in the workplace, a great place to start is by deliberately choosing to speak words and phrases that are empowering to yourself and others; to use language that captivates, motivates, and inspires; and to communicate a vocal image that conveys clarity, confidence, and credibility, she adds.

“In speaking with hundreds of executives and senior leaders over the past twenty years, certain phrases consistently come up as career-limiting phrases that jeopardize one’s professional image and potential for promotion,” Price says. “To the speaker they may seem like harmless words, however, to the listener they reveal a more critical issue: In a workplace where employers must be cutting-edge, competitive, and cost-effective, employees who use these phrases will likely be replaced with those who convey a more positive attitude, collaborative spirit, proactive behavior and professional demeanor.”

Here are 13 phrases that should be banned from the office:

“It’s not fair.”

She got a raise, you didn’t. He was recognized, you weren’t. “Some people have food to eat while others starve,” Price says. “Injustices happen on the job and in the world every day. Whether it’s a troubling issue at work or a serious problem for the planet, the point in avoiding this phrase is to be proactive about the issues versus complaining, or worse, passively whining.” Instead, document the facts, build a case, and present an intelligent argument to the person or group who can help you.

“That’s not my problem,” “That’s not my job,” or “I don’t get paid enough for this.”

If you asked someone for help, and the person replied with one of the above phrases, how would you feel? “As importantly, what would it say about him or her?” Price says. “Regardless of how inconvenient or inappropriate a request may be, it is likely important to the other person or they would not have asked. Therefore, as a contributing member of the team, a top priority is to care about the success of others (or at least act as though you do).” An unconcerned, detached and self-serving attitude quickly limits career advancement.

“This doesn’t mean you have to say yes; it does mean you need to be articulate and thoughtful when saying no,” she adds. “For example, if your boss issues an unreasonable request, rather than saying, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t get paid enough for this,’ instead say, ‘I’ll be glad to help. Given my current tasks of A, B, and C, which one of these shall I place on hold while I work on this new assignment?’ This clearly communicates teamwork and helpfulness, while reminding your boss of your current work load and the need to set realistic expectations.”

“I think…”

Which of these two statements sounds more authoritative?: “I think our company might be a good partner for you.” Or, “I believe…” “I know…” or “I am confident that our company will be a good partner for you.”

“There is a slight difference in the wording, however the conviction communicated to your customer is profound,” she says. “You may have noticed, the first phrase contains two weak words, ‘think’ and ‘might.’ They risk making you sound unsure or insecure about the message. Conversely, the second sentence is assertive and certain. To convey a command of content and passion for your subject, substitute the word ‘think’ with ‘believe’ and replace ‘might’ with ‘will.’”

“No problem.”

When someone thanks you, the courteous and polite reply is, “You’re welcome.”

“The meaning implies that it was a pleasure for you to help the person, and that you receive their appreciation,” Price says. “Though the casual laid-back phrase, ‘no problem’ may intend to communicate this, it falls short. It actually negates the person’s appreciation and implies the situation could have been a problem under other circumstances.” In business and social situations, if you want to be perceived as well-mannered and considerate, respond to thank you’s with, “You’re welcome.”

“I’ll try.”

“Imagine it’s April 15th and you ask a friend to mail your tax returns before 5pm on his way to the post office,” Price says. “If he replies, ‘Okay, I’ll try,’ you’ll likely feel the need to mail them yourself.” Why? Because that phrase implies the possibility of failure.

“In your speech, especially with senior leaders, replace the word ‘try’ with the word and intention of ‘will.’ This seemingly small change speaks volumes,” she adds.

“He’s a jerk,” or “She’s lazy,” or “My job stinks,” or “I hate this company.”

Nothing tanks a career faster than name-calling, Price says. “Not only does it reveal juvenile school-yard immaturity, it’s language that is liable and fire-able.”

Avoid making unkind, judgmental statements that will inevitably reflect poorly on you. If you have a genuine complaint about someone or something, communicate the issue with tact, consideration and neutrality.

“But we’ve always done it that way.”

“The most effective leaders value innovation, creative thinking and problem solving skills in their employees,” Price says. In one fell swoop, this phrase reveals you are the opposite: stuck in the past, inflexible, and closed-minded. “Instead say, ‘Wow, that’s an interesting idea. How would that work?’ Or, ‘That’s a different approach. Let’s discuss the pros and cons.’”

“That’s impossible” or “There’s nothing I can do.”

Really? Are you sure you’ve considered every single possible solution and the list is now exhausted? “When you make the mistake of saying these negative phrases, your words convey a pessimistic, passive, even hopeless outlook,” Price says. “This approach is seldom valued in the workplace. Employers notice, recognize and promote a can-do attitude. Despite the glum circumstances, communicate through your words what you can contribute to the situation.”

Instead, try something like, “I’ll be glad to check on it again,” “Let’s discuss what’s possible under these circumstances,” or, “What I can do is this.”

“You should have…” or “You could have…”

You probably wouldn’t be thrilled if someone said: “You should have told me about this sooner!” Or, “You could have tried a little harder.” “Chances are, these fault-finding words inflict feelings of blame and finger-pointing,” Price says. “Ideally, the workplace fosters equality, collaboration and teamwork. Instead of making someone feel guilty (even if they are), take a more productive non-judgmental approach.” Say, “Next time, to ensure proper planning, please bring this to my attention immediately.” Or, “In the future, I recommend…”

“You guys.”

Reserve the phrase “you guys” for friendly casual conversations and avoid using it in business. “Referring to a group of people as ‘you guys’ is not only inaccurate if women are present, it is slang and lowers your level of professionalism,” Price explains. With fellow professionals such as your boss, co-workers and clients, substitute “you guys” with terms such as “your organization” or “your team” or simply “you.”

“I may be wrong, but…” or “This may be a silly idea, but…”

These phrases are known as discounting, Price explains. They diminish the impact of what follows and reduce your credibility. “Remember that your spoken words reveal to the world how much value you place on yourself and your message. For this reason, eliminate any prefacing phrase that demeans the importance of who you are or lessens the significance of what you contribute.”

Don’t say, “This may be a silly idea, but I was thinking that maybe we might conduct the quarterly meeting online instead, okay?” Instead, assert your recommendation: “To reduce travel costs and increase time efficiency, I recommend we conduct the quarterly meeting online.”

“Don’t you think?” or “Okay?”

These phrases are commonly known as hedging—seeking validation through the use of overly cautious or non-committal words, she says. “If you truly are seeking approval or looking for validation, these phrases may well apply. However, if your goal is to communicate a confident commanding message and persuade people to see it your way, instead of hedging make your statement or recommendation with certainty.”

Imagine an investment banker saying, “This is a good way to invest your money, don’t you think? I’ll proceed, if that’s okay with you.” Instead, you’d probably want to hear something like: “This strategy is a wise investment that provides long-term benefits. With your approval, I’ll wire the money by 5pm today.”

“I don’t have time for this right now,” or “I’m too busy.”

“Even if these statements are true, no one wants to feel less important than something or someone else,” Price says. To foster positive relations and convey empathy, say instead: I’d be happy to discuss this with you after my morning meetings. May I stop by your office around 1pm?”

These are common phrases that might be difficult to eliminate completely from your everyday conversations—but the trick is to gain awareness of the language you’re using. “As is often the case with bad habits, we are unconscious of the fact we’re saying career-limiting words and phrases,” Price says.

Here are a few tips to build self-awareness and eradicate the phrases from your conversations:

Record yourself.
When you’re on the phone in a business setting, record your side of the conversation, she suggests. “Listen carefully to the recording afterward (on the way home from work). Did you use any of the phrases on this list, or any other words or phrases that may be perceived as limiting or negative? Write down the phrase you used, mark through it, and beside it construct an alternate phrase that more positively communicates your message.” Keep this list handy, by your phone or next to your computer monitor, and review it daily.

Enlist a buddy.
When you’re in meetings (and may not be able to record), ask a trusted co-worker to listen carefully to your language. “Ask them to write down any career-limiting words, phrases, actions or attitudes they perceive to be negative,” she says. “Treat them to lunch, check your ego at the door, and let them tell you what they heard.”

Listen for these phrases when others speak.
When you hear how jeopardizing these phrases actually sound when spoken by another, it sends a powerful message to your brain heightening your own self awareness. Price says you should ask yourself, “How could she have phrased that idea in a different way?” Or, “What words would have communicated his point more positively?”

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Jacquelyn Smith and was first published on www.forbes.com

Anticipate your department’s needs

“Being a reliable source for your department leader and seeing opportunities for your department to improve are great ways to be better at your job,” says Shawnice Meador, Director of Career Management MBA@UNC. “Take on tasks that your department leader may not need to oversee directly and present a finished product to him or her.” Seeing this initiative from you often helps them understand that you can handle tasks proactively and things will not be falling solely on their shoulders.

Get to know your boss better

Your boss controls your destiny so it’s in your best interest to get to know them better both personally and professionally, says Andy Teach, author of From Graduation to Corporation: The Practical Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder One Rung at a Time. “It doesn’t mean you need to be friends with them or hang out with them, but you do need to learn what makes them tick. The more you communicate with your boss, the better it is for you.” While you’re at it, get to know your boss’s boss as well, he suggests.

Assume success

“Your positive attitude can be seen in your facial expression, posture, tone and speed of your voice,” says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant. “Be confident in your work. You’re uniquely qualified to do exactly what you do.” Imagine that everything you contribute helps the bottom line, she says. “Even when things are dicey, you can challenge yourself in 2013 to use setbacks as opportunities.”

Study your industry

Your industry is constantly changing and you need to keep up with what’s happening now, Teach says. “Most industries have trade magazines or websites that have the latest news in that industry. It’s important to read these so that you are well informed and can discuss recent industry events and changes with your co-workers, supervisors, and management. Information is power.”

Always come to the table with a solution

Offering a solution or idea is only half of the equation and many managers feel that an idea without an action plan will only create more work for them, Meador says. “Share ideas with context and a clear path for implementation for the leader to evaluate.” The more you present any issues with recommended solutions and then implement those solutions in a timely and effective manner, the more the leadership team will rely on you and think about you for future projects and new responsibilities, she says.

Find a mentor

Everyone needs someone to teach them the ropes; to guide them through their career, Teach says. “Find someone at your company whom you respect and want to learn from. You don’t need to directly ask them to be your mentor, just keep the communication lines open and take them out to lunch once in a while.” You can talk to them about non-work interests as well–but when you need work advice, they’ll be there for you.

Improve your communication skills

One of the most common mistakes made by both managers and employees today, is that too often, both are afraid to come to the table and talk about underlying issues, Taylor says. “Fear of confrontation is so overwhelming, but if you communicate boldly, more frequently, and honestly in 2013, and you’re not afraid to work through conflict, you’ll likely reduce your stress and be a better worker.” Too much time is spent dwelling on misunderstood employee communications, which, if left unaddressed, eventually leads to conflict. “And an ever-tempting, over-reliance on technology with its benefits of brevity and immediacy can exacerbate that.”

Work harder and smarter

Some employees set limits and boundaries for themselves as far as the number of hours worked or how much work they’re willing to do on a project. “It’s important to go outside these boundaries and go with the flow,” Teach says. “Having said this, working harder is not enough. The key is to be able to work smarter so that you’re maximizing your abilities and making the most out of your time.”

Volunteer to get involved with special projects, particularly those across business units

The more you can help across all business units, the better, Meador says. “Lending expertise, time and effort to other teams will help you get to know other aspects of the business as well as help you connect with people across the company,” she says. “However, remember that your current position and duties are the most important, so be sure not to bite off more than you can chew.”

See the big picture

There are many employees who only focus on what they’re doing, which prevents them from seeing the big picture. “You’re just one piece of the puzzle and the puzzle isn’t complete until all of the pieces are in place,” Teach says. Find out what your co-workers are doing and what your supervisor is doing. By getting a better understanding of the big picture, it will become clearer to you why you’ve been asked to complete certain projects. “Additionally, it’s a great learning experience which can help prepare you for a higher level position since managers and supervisors need to see the big picture in order to become successful,” he adds.

Invest in continuous learning to stay on top of your game

Many companies encourage employees to go back to school and pick up courses that can help them do their job better, Meador says. “If you are pursuing an MBA, try to immediately translate your newly gained business knowledge into tangible action at work, as this can grab the attention of company decision makers and show them what you can do for the company.”

Ask the right questions

Aside from observing people at work, there is probably no better way of learning than by asking questions, especially the right questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Think about what you want to know before you ask about it and don’t ask so many questions that people will think that you’re taking up too much of their time. Of course, when you get answers to your questions, it could raise more questions but if you truly want to learn and better yourself, ask away.

Follow through on all tasks and commitments

“One of the most important things you can do as an employee is to follow through on work commitments,” Meador says. “Do what you say you are going to do in a quality manner, on time and on budget.” Your co-workers and management will see a pattern of reliability from you, which should increase their trust and confidence in your work, she adds. “Over time, this should translate into key leadership taking notice of the value you bring to the organization, and may lead to challenging, promotional opportunities down the road.”

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on www.forbes.com and written by Jacquelyn Smith.

You may have read the stats. Workplace productivity is up and employment is down. That can only mean that fewer people are in the workplace but now they have to work harder and longer. No wonder so many people are always tired and sucking down coffee and energy drinks.

Since there are still only 24 hours in a day you not only have to be more productive, but also maintain high energy and stay happy. Otherwise you’ll drag yourself down, end up a miserable, grumpy, scrooge, and take a lot of folks with you on the way.

The demands of work are keeping people so busy these days sometimes they forget the simple things that make them feel energized. Here are some tips to keep your energy soaring that don’t require the use of drugs or an unlimited Starbucks card.

1. Start Your Day With a Workout

You would think a big workout would make you tired, but actually getting that blood pumping first thing will keep you going for the day. Don’t forget a good breakfast as well, solid fuel to stoke the day’s fire.

2. Take a 20-minute Power Nap

Of course you don’t want your colleagues to see you sleeping on the job, but studies have shown that a brief power nap can help revitalize you for the whole day. One employer I know actually set up a motorized massage chair in a designated “nap room” for employees and requires they use it for breaks. Check out Inc. columnist Jessica Stillman’s power nap primer.

3. Remove All Personal Grudges

All that emotional baggage takes its toll day in and day out. Whether it’s anger you feel for a coworker or even someone who is distant from work, the emotions can be distracting and absorb energy. We like to think we can ignore the feelings, but often we just mask them and that takes energy in and of itself. Make a list of your grudges and commit time to reconcile each of them until they are gone. Soon you’ll feel like someone added minutes to your clock every day.

4. Take a 15-minute Humor Break

Laughter is a natural energizer. Those endorphins from chuckles are as good for you as a solid workout. Sign up for the joke of the day, or cruise YouTube for some funny videos. Grab some colleagues and have a joke pow-wow. You’ll lighten the atmosphere all around, and help everyone feel good about the rest of the day. This is a good one for 2:30 in the afternoon when the classic after lunch doze is coming on.

5. Take a 15-minute Walk

Sometimes we just need to get out. It doesn’t matter if the weather is hot, cold or rainy, getting up from that chair and computer can rejuvenate your body and your mind. Leave the smartphone behind as well. Stretch, breathe and take in the outdoors to feel refreshed and awake.

6. Read Something Fun During Lunch

A little escape is good to clear the mind and reset your energy. Short stories are my favorite for lunch breaks. Not only are they entertaining, but finishing one at lunch gives you a sense of completion which helps boost your confidence to get back and fight through the day. Try a classic like Mark Twain or Rudyard Kipling, and you’ll feel like you are doing something worthwhile with your time.

7. Resolve Any Conflicts With Your Boss or Colleagues

Concern over conflict can eat away at your attention and tire you quickly. Don’t hold back. Confront issues head on. If you are open, empathetic, and diplomatic in your approach you may forge a closer bond that will make coming days easier to enjoy.

8. Do Something Nice For a Colleague

Energy is easily transmitted from person to person. This tip helps on so many levels. It’s energizing to think about someone else, the actual act of giving creates a natural high, and of course gratitude provides plenty of energy as well. Try this hat-trick every day for a week and feel the surprising buzz.

9. Call a Good Friend and Chat for 15 Minutes

Nothing perks up my day more than time with a close friend. Whether it’s quick catch up, or a chance to vent some of the day’s frustrations, this short, fun reconnect will recharge your batteries and give you the support required to battle any tough day. The best part is that you will give your friend the same benefit.

10. Make Sure Your Work Activity is Fulfilling

If you hate what you do then none of my suggestions and no amount of caffeine will energize you enough to grind out depressing workdays continuously. Find a way to get paid doing what you enjoy. No need to make yourself and everyone around you miserable. Life is short and you are entitled to enjoy every day of it.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on www.inc.com and written by Kevin Daum.

Findings From The Annual Adecco Survey Of School Children Living In Singapore.

Survey shows that being a Chef is the top career choice, followed closely by becoming a Doctor, Teacher, Nurse and Pilot.

SINGAPORE, Jan. 14, 2013 — For the seventh year, Adecco Singapore, a subsidiary of the world’s largest HR organisation, has surveyed children across Singapore to learn more about their career aspirations and thoughts about the future. Each year, the results reveal interesting viewpoints from Singapore’s workforce of the future — responses that are often both poignant and funny.

The 7th annual “Adecco Children’s Career Survey” has revealed that becoming a chef is the new top career choice amongst the 7-14 year olds surveyed. In the same survey from twelve months ago, being a “teacher” was the top choice. The findings also revealed that 82% of the children surveyed believe that it is more important to “spend time with family” than in making “lots of money”.

The eagerly anticipated survey, conducted by Adecco Singapore, asked children aged between 7-14 years a number of questions, including:
1. What do you want to be when you grow up? Why have you chosen this and how much do you expect to earn?
2. What is the best/coolest job that you can think of?
3. If you became Prime Minister of Singapore, what are the first three things you would do?
4. What is more important: to make lots of money or to spend time with your family?
5. What is the best/ most enjoyable thing to do in Singapore over the weekend?

6.8% of the children surveyed stated that they want to become a chef when they grow up. Clearly, many are fans of the Junior MasterChef Australia programme as well as the general increasing interest in food and new restaurants sprouting up all over Singapore. Many said that it was fun that aspiring chefs get to cook at amusement parks and famous landmarks. Those surveyed had monthly expectations ranging from S$100 to S$10,000,000.

Becoming a doctor has always featured prominently and been a top career choice in previous editions of this survey — and was again popular with 4.0% of those surveyed wanting to pursue a career in medicine.

The results of this survey revealed interesting career choices. A pair of 12-year old twin sisters aspired to be royal wedding planners, revealing themselves to be ardent fans of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, whilst a 9-year old boy wanted to be the future “President of the World”. A number of the children surveyed stated that they wanted to be actresses because “it’s fun to dress up and perform”. The salary aspiration was to earn “ten billion dollars” by being a top chef, whilst one of the 7-year olds was happy to earn “S$20 and free Kinder Buenos” as a Superman.

The Top Five “What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up” Jobs, as identified in the survey, are:
1. Chef
2. Doctor (joint 2nd)
3. Teacher (joint 2nd)
4. Nurse
5. Pilot

Career choices that demonstrated that our children continue to think of others and to provide support where possible include becoming animal helpers and veterinarians, surgeons, nurses, police officers, social workers and firemen - amongst others.

The survey also delves into what children feel is the “best/coolest job” in the world — even though this may not be the job that they would choose to do themselves. The results revealed that children felt that being an actress/actor, fashion designer and F1 driver were the coolest jobs.

Other “cool” jobs include being an animal helper, fashion designer and synchronised swimmer. One 11 year-old wanted to grow up to be an inventor of “the best automated pizza maker”.

In as much as becoming The Prime Minister of Singapore may not be the job for everyone, the majority of children surveyed had firm ideas on what they would do in this role during their first few days “in office”. When asked what the first “three things they would do” if they become the Prime Minister of Singapore, the answers were thoughtful, interesting and often adventurous. Some of the responses included:

 More fireworks during the National Day Parade
 Make it compulsory for all students to learn the four main languages in Singapore
 Round up all of the sick animals and send them to a vet
 More school holidays in the year
 Hold the National Day Parade in Universal Studios

There were many responses from the children about providing help, support and housing for elderly people as well as helping injured and stray animals — clearly an important task for any Prime Minister.

Each year, the survey also asks children about their thoughts around family and money. The question, “What is more important — to make lots of money or to spend time with your family?” revealed that 80% of the children would prefer to spend time with their families versus making money. Some of the reasons being:

 My family is the best in the whole world
 My sisters and I are best friends and we do everything together
 Because I don’t need to be a millionaire and I like having time with my family

For the question “What is the best/most enjoyable thing to do in Singapore over the weekend?”, there was a world of answers to choose from. The children surveyed will certainly be busy in 2013, enjoying activities such as:

 Going to Wild Wild Wet
 Visiting the biggest aquarium in the world
 Making chocolate cakes for the family

Not surprisingly, many of the respondents were interested in visiting Universal Studios — time and time again!
For the second time, the survey also asked the young respondents “Which country you would choose to live in — if you could live anywhere?” Some of the top locations were Australia, Japan, the US (particularly New York and California) and London. Some of the children also selected Thailand as well as Africa. However, the majority of the children selected Singapore.

Lynne Ng, Regional Director, Adecco South East Asia, commented: “The results of this survey have always been interesting and we see the children becoming more adventurous in their responses. Clearly our children are picking up on news as well as the conversations around them. It’s also heart-warming to note that our young citizens are passionate about the environment and place a deep importance for family and community. Their responses also resonate with an understanding of what they would like their future to be — one that is filled with fun and purpose.”

At the start of every year, I create a list of quotes to guide and inspire me for the next 12 months. Here are the quotes I’ve selected for 2013:

1.”Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”
Napoleon Hill

2.”The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
Brian Tracy

3.”Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Dale Carnegie

4.”Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats.”
Og Mandino

5.”A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
Tony Robbins

6.”If you can’t control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls waiting to be attacked.”
The Book of Proverbs

7.A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves.”
Harvey Mackay

8.”Freedom, privileges, options, must constantly be exercised, even at the risk of inconvenience.”
Jack Vance

9.”Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”
Jim Rohn

10.”You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar

11.”The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.”
Tom Hopkins

12.”You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself.”
Seth Godin

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Geoffrey James and was first published on www.inc.com

I used to read the horoscopes for fun. According to famous astrologers, the Scorpion is one of the most mystical signs. Full of spirit, vengence, passion, intensity and poison - but who isn’t? I’ve never been a mysterious person, I’m pretty much an open book. Or rather, I think i am. Anyway, I’ve stopped reading them.

So, I’ve decided to create my own “Future”. Here’s my own personal reading for 2013.

2013 will present you with endless possibilities, if only you would dare take those leaps of faith. Never allow the fear of failure hold you back.

On Friendships: You will be making lots of new friends but you must not neglect your old friendships. You need to find the time to have dinners, girly lunches or brunches with your entourage - your fabulous girlfriends and buddies. You must not forget their birthdays, baby delivery dates and other special occasions. You can’t control how your friends choose to treat you but you can control how you’d like to treat them. You will also find yourself building friendships with your office security as well as the taxi operator for you will have lots of late nights.

On Family: You need to make time for your family. Everything else comes and go but family is forever. Don’t forget Dad’s birthday, send Mom her favourite roses just because you can, turn up for your sisters’ graduation party. Plan family holidays to Bora-Bora, Greece or wherever your heart desires. Remember that your family is a circle of friends. And be present. Just be present in their lives.

On Health: You need to let go of your Coke addiction. Deep inside, you know it’s not healthy. You need to eat more vegetables and fruit. Potato chips are not counted. You will find yourself sleeping at your desk if you carry on eating chicken rice or mutton briyani for lunch. You will find yourself buying larger pants if you do not stop snacking at work. Stop visiting the office fridge for snacks or you will end up looking like a fridge yourself! if you must snack, then snack on dried fruit, nuts or carrot sticks - they are delicious AND healthy!You will find that some of your colleagues will be more than happy to do salad lunches with you. Make sure you have at least 6 hours of sleep every night. Join a zumba class, do yoga, swim and have regular briskwalks. You will feel better and you will look better too. Cut down on the fried stuff. Dont’ take your work home. Stop making excuses. It’s your body. So cut the crap.

On Career: You will find yourself managing more projects. You will have new team members. You will still be reporting to the same bosses. You will have to be more assertive and decisive. Be firm but fair. Stand by your decisions. You will have to find balance between work and life. Enjoy what you do. Approach work challenges the same way you would a 72oz steak - With Gusto and with one bite at a time…Same stuff, different year. Remember that you always have a choice.

On Happiness: Happiness comes from within. Be grateful with what you have because you already have what you need. Reconnect with God. Don’t neglect your prayers and keep your faith. You will have tough moments - If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. Take the time to visit your relatives. Honour what you have promised. Be a good daughter, sister, friend, colleague, leader, neighbour and person.

On You: Be Happy. Be kind to yourself. Respect others and respect yourself. Have empathy and humility, be positive and speak the truth. Stand up for your beliefs, have confidence and most of all, have fun.

And remember, even when life is at its hardest, God has a plan for you.

Happy 2013.

Written by S. Aziz.
S. Aziz is a female 30-something writer who is currently in the Marketing and Communications industry. She enjoys late night shesha sessions with her girlfriends and makes a mean vegetarian lasagne.

Have you noticed that some people just seem to accomplish tons and still appear happy and relaxed? Here are six tips for becoming more productive.

People often ask me, amazed, how I manage to do so many things. Aside from writing two columns every week, I speak regularly, travel, create videos, manage my business, write books, consult with five companies, network, socialize, cycle, run, read, cook, sleep six to seven hours a night and have dates with my wife. Oh yeah, I watch a lot of television while hanging out with my dog as well.

Okay, I know it sounds ridiculous. But accomplishing my preferred future requires this level of activity. I have the same 24 hours in a day that you do, but I have made specific choices that allow me to make the most of every day, and still feel happy and relaxed. Perhaps these tips will help you make the most of your time as well.

1. Pick Your Priorities

Make choices about the activities in your life. With most endeavors, you can either go deep or go wide. Focus on spending time that for you is fun and productive. If you like big families, have them, but recognize up front that kids require time and you’ll have to choose a lifestyle that supports quality time with them, for you to feel satisfied. I chose the life of a consultant because I like to work with companies, but don’t want the life of a big company CEO. My choices are based on the lifestyle I want.

2. Go For Efficiency

You don’t do everything well. The things you do well usually give you greater joy and require less time. Don’t take on something with a steep learning curve if you don’t have the available bandwidth. Design your life to meet your wants, and recognize when to say no to opportunities that are outside the scope of your desires. Live your life by design, not default.

3. Integrate Your Activities

Many people go crazy trying to figure out how to spend time with friends, family, work, play, etc. Stop trying to balance time between them all. Find ways to enjoy them in a combined manner. Build your social life around people in your work environment. Find people in your company who share common interests and develop your career around the people and activities you love. If everything is out of synch to the point where you feel pulled and stressed, a change is likely imminent one way or another.

4. Actively Manage Time-wasters

Social media, family, friends, employees, co-workers and general whiners all under certain circumstances can suck precious time from you if you let them. Budget your time for necessary activities. Make a choice to limit non-supportive interactions that don’t energize you. As for social media, it can easily be a black hole for time and productivity. Use it appropriately and sparingly as a tool to support your endeavors and social needs, but lay off the Farmville.

5. Be an Active Learner

You would think learning takes more time from you, but actually there are always new tools and new ways of doing things that can save you time on mundane tasks freeing you up for your priorities. Always be looking for a new way to gain back an hour here or there. Just try it and dump it quick if it starts to drag on.

6. Lighten Up

No need to beat yourself up if you can’t do all the things you want because you are handling other stuff that needs attention. It happens. The world won’t come to an end in most cases just because you left a few things undone. Celebrate progress and keep refining toward a happy productive existence. This is why making lists and crossing off items is a staple in any productivity handbook. Every completion is a small victory that adds up in a big way.

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Kevin Daum, an Inc. 500 entrepreneur with a more than $1 billion sales and marketing track record, Kevin Daum is the best-selling author of Video Marketing for Dummies. @awesomeroar

Some things are better left unsaid, a wise girl once told me. Actually, five regretful girls told me-after saying things to their bosses they wished they could have sucked right back in their mouths (if only their feet weren’t blocking the way).
Learn from their mistakes, and avoid these topics with your manager at all costs.

1. Your Side Business
It’s fine to have a hobby, and it’s fine and dandy if that hobby makes you a profit. What’s not fine is selling your services to your manager and her peers. Case in point: A girl I used to work with was getting some negative feedback on her recent performance. Little things were building up to be a big thing, and rumors were swirling that management had had enough of her lack of attentiveness in meetings and constant mistakes.

They finally found out why this initial rock star was dwindling into a clock-watcher: At an important client dinner, she announced to a manager (who just told the table that she’s getting married) that she’d love to plan her wedding because she’s been trying to build her clientele. Turns out, she was an on-the-side event planner. When she asked me later if I noticed how weird managers were being around her, all I could think of was “Yes, and it’s probably because they’re paying you $50K a year and their work is being neglected by the start-up you’re promoting on their time.” Yeah, that might be it.

2. Exhaustion Due to Late Night Studying
It’s totally cool to walk into the office tired from a late night of working overtime-in fact, it will probably earn you some big-girl Brownie badges that’ll help for your next promotion. But it’s not OK to complain because you had to stay up and study for an exam you have to take in order to make a career switch.

True story: a girl I worked with in a marketing department walked into a morning meeting yawning. When our boss playfully asked if she had a late night out, the girl replied, “Ugh, I wish. I was studying forever last night for my teaching certification.” If you’re wondering if she pretty much told our bosses that she’s actively trying to get another job outside of the company-well, yes she did. And, she felt about 10 times more awkward than you do reading this after she broadcasted her calculated plot to quit ASAP as soon as she could find a good teaching job in a nice school district. She ended it with, “It’s just so hard finding a job in this economy, you know?”

3. TMI Doctor Visit Details
If you need a sick day, fine. Even feel free to share whether it’s something minor or serious, if you really want. But, whatever you do, leave out anything that will conjure up unpleasant images in your boss’ mind. A few years ago, a girl I interned with sent a note to our male boss about an infection she had, ahem, down there. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he opened up the email. It’s the same face you make when you see intoxicated couples making out on the subway. You think, they’re clearly not in their right minds, and they will regret this and feel as appalled as I do tomorrow when they come to. And so will you if you divulge things to your boss that should never be discussed outside of an exam room.

4. How Bad You Screwed Up
Once at a work happy hour, a group of us were sharing stories-you know, funny happenings around the office, G-rated embarrassing moments-until one admission turned the room silent. Turns out, it’s one thing to accidentally break the copier, but quite another to damage client relationships.

One of my peers had a cocktail in hand with pink liquid swishing from side to side as she laughed so hard she cried about the time she accidentally tweeted about a Bravo TV show on behalf of the client on accident. As soon as she saw our manager’s agitated fluttering of the eyes, she panicked-and ordered a bigger drink to wallow in her sorrows. She was a social media manager, and I don’t blame her for wanting to swim away in that fruity drink of hers. If I had offered up a reason for my bosses to no longer trust my judgment, I would have ordered up another round for myself, too.

5. The Real Reason You Left Your Last Job
Acceptable reasons for leaving your previous job for your current one can be any number of things: relocation, a career switch, an urge to feel challenged or an interest in a different company culture. One thing that is not a sufficient reason, and if spoken could cause some serious damage to your boss-employee relationship? That you were looking for something “slower-paced, less challenging, easier.”

That is a direct quote from a gal I worked with who was apparently surprised that our manager didn’t clutch her pearls in flattery and thank her for the compliment. I mean, this woman helped to build the business from the ground up-and a new hire is telling her that she essentially downgraded by working here because she needed a break from the hustle and bustle of a tougher company? Even if it’s the truth, this is essentially the office equivalent of one coattail-holder slapping the coat owner in the face.

While outright lying can harm your relationship with your boss, the same goes for being way too honest and open with things you should share only with your friends (specifically, your good friends-the ones who won’t judge you). Even if you’re close with your manager, it’s a good rule of thumb to run from the above situations just in case. Now you know what happens after a bad case of word vomit: Even a seasoned custodian can’t clean that career mess up.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on The Daily Muse.
About the Author: Megan Broussard is ProfessionGal, a southern PR girl living in NYC. She enjoys critiquing resumes, blogging about style and the young professional lifestyle, along with reviewing the latest office supplies. She is a contributor to The Daily Muse, a columnist for Glass Heel and has been featured in Shoplet.com’s “Office-Writer Favorites” series. Her next goal in life: writing a book.

Sometimes we get lucky and things happen on their own; but most of the time, taking any idea from imagination to reality requires action.

Ugh, we hate to hear that! We equate ‘action’ with the dreaded “W word”… ‘work’ – even when it comes to important personal goals. But unless you prefer that your dream live forever in your imagination… or unless you want your boss yelling at you for not completing a task on time… you’re going to have to overcome the oh-so-tempting urge to not do anything. Here is how you can make the process easier and more fun:

1. Chunk it and take small steps. Break down a big task into small intense bursts of activity of no more than 15-30 minutes each. It’s much easier to stay motivated and focused when you know you do not have 8 hours of this task ahead of you. Even if you DO have a full day’s work ahead, breaking up the day into chunks helps prevent overwhelm paralysis. Focus on what you’re doing for a short time, and then let it go. Walk away from it. Give your mind a break and think about something else… and return to it later if needed. Chunking creates steady progressive momentum instead of sporadic leaps.

2. Problem-solve with visualization and a Glass of Water. Use the incredible power of your mind to come up with solutions or find ways to make the task more efficient or easier. The Silva Method centers on using the mind to visualize a desired outcome; and the Glass of Water technique is a command to keep your mind thinking about the problem while you sleep. Solutions tend to inspire action. Self-motivate by visualizing success.

3. Just do it. Quit thinking so much and getting stuck on “what if.” Dive in and start working, whether you feel ready or not. Don’t let “what if” or self-doubt keep you paralyzed into inaction. Learn as you go. NOW is the perfect time to start. Taking action feels good, even if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing or you don’t know if you’re headed in the right direction. Even if you’re moving in the wrong direction you’ll soon catch yourself and the mis-direct becomes a valuable learning experience. Besides, worrying is a complete waste of mental energy. Put your mind to work more constructively!

4. Talk about it. The more people you tell about a goal, the more likely you are to work it. Holding yourself accountable to others also opens you up to support from people; just be careful not to talk to people who are negative, who worry, who don’t believe in you or who have an agenda that conflicts with your goals. If you can, or if it’s appropriate to the situation, work toward your goals with other people (fitness is one example where groups are great); motivate and support each other, and hold each other accountable. But if you have to do it solo…

5. Hold yourself accountable. Create milestones and honor them. It’s easy to slip into procrastination, laziness or avoidance – but that creates a huge energetic burden to carry around with you. Every time you think about an undone task, you are giving that task energy instead of anything else you could be doing. So… refer back to #3. Just do it and get it out of your hair!

6. Automate it. Make taking action on your important goals a habit, just like any habit you’ve ever created. Using the self-programming techniques in the Silva Method, program yourself to think and act a certain way (for example, whenever a bill comes in the mail, program yourself to pay it immediately; or program yourself to spend 15 minutes a day working on your goals, no matter what). Then, reinforce that new programming with daily repetition for a month or two. It will be weird at first, but soon you’ll get in the groove, become more efficient at it (a sure sign that the habit is being formed) and sooner than you think, taking action on important goals will be a normal part of your everyday routine.

7. Be present. Give your full attention to what you are doing. It’s easy to stay focused for shorter chunks of time and maintain intensity and dedication. You can accomplish an awful lot in a very short period of time. If possible, avoid ALL distractions while you are focused on your task. And give everything you do 100% effort.

8. Instead of a to-do list, make a hit list. Narrow your focus to just a few essential, high-priority tasks that you can manage in a given time. Then focus on them, get them done and move on. IF you have time for the other stuff, great. If not, at least the important things got done.

9. Own it. This goes beyond taking personal responsibility for doing your best work. It also means, whatever you are doing, being present and in control. Instead of having a “I should do this” cloud hanging over you, change your perception of the task and shift your mindset to “I am choosing to do this” (or use your own words to create a feeling of wanting to do what you need to do, and choosing to do it instead of feeling forced to do it). Use the Silva visualization exercises to see yourself having FUN doing whatever you’re doing. Yes, this takes practice but even the most boring or difficult tasks can be made into something fun, if you decide that they are fun.

10. Motivate yourself with a ritual. Take exactly five minutes to clean your workspace, get your coffee or water ready, put the right music on, and get yourself psyched up into “action mode.” Then, refer back to #1, and dedicate an intense 15-30 minutes at a time to what you have to do. Of course if the spirit moves you and you want to spend the entire day immersed in something, go for it! Some days and some activities lend themselves to immersion. For most things, though, less is more.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on http://www.silvamethodlife.com. We do not own the article.

In addition to my work with students and young adults, I also work a full-time job as a project engineer.

As a project engineer, I’ve learned a lot about how things work in the corporate world.

I don’t dare claim to be the best or most productive employee around, but I’ve observed the practices of the most outstanding workers, and I’ve tried to emulate those practices.

I’m still in the learning process myself!

As an employee, you’re part of a performance. The primary aim of this performance is to delight your customers.

So whenever you’re at work, you’re on stage.

This means that people are watching—both your customers and your colleagues (who are also your fellow performers).

Here are 20 ways for you to be a better worker and to put on a great show:

1. Say “thank you.”

Most people don’t express much gratitude at work. Don’t be “most people.”

2. Ask your boss what you can do to make his or her life easier.

Most bosses won’t tell you directly, so you’ll have to ask.

3. Set daily goals and prioritize them.

If you don’t do this, you’ll likely end up reacting to the urgent matters that cry out for your attention, instead of focusing on the tasks that are most important.

4. Spend the last 15 minutes of each work day doing Point #3 (for the following work day).

This way, you’ll hit the ground running when you start the new work day.

5. Don’t check your email more than three times a day.

I know that this can be difficult to do, but reducing the number of times you check your email will allow you to have larger chunks of time to work on key tasks.

6. Have lunch with people from different departments at least once a week.

Besides allowing you to get to know more people and to understand your company better, this will also enable you to build relationships with people whom you’ll almost certainly need help from in the future.

7. Give your boss regular updates.

Don’t wait for your boss to ask you for an update before you provide him or her with one.

8. Give credit to your colleagues

This is especially meaningful if you do it in a public setting, whether it’s in an email or during a meeting.

9. Don’t communicate so that you can be understood. Communicate so that you cannot be misunderstood.

A lot of time at work is wasted because of unclear communication. Communicating so that you cannot be misunderstood often involves stating what you mean, as well as stating precisely what you do not mean.

10. When you make a phone call, ask the other party if it’s a good time for him or her to talk.

People appreciate this act of courtesy. I know I do!

11. Treat everyone with honour.

My wise mother once said to me, “Respect needs to be earned, but honour is an attitude of the heart. Not everyone will earn your respect, but everyone deserves to be shown honour.” No matter how low- or high-ranking someone is, treat him or her with honour.

12. Go to your boss with options and recommendations instead of questions.

If you’re not sure what the best course of action is, do this instead of going to your boss and asking, “What should I do?” He or she will greatly appreciate it.

13. Folder your emails.

Don’t rely on the “search” function to find old emails. Putting your emails in proper folders will save you time and future frustration.

14. Bcc yourself on emails that require a reply.

When action is required from the email recipient, Bcc yourself on the email and flag it. Periodically track whether or not the other party has responded. If you don’t receive a reply after a few days, follow up and ask, “I’m just checking to make sure that you received this email?” Doing this will ensure that no important tasks slip through the cracks.

15. Meet people face to face when possible.

Face-to-face meetings are far more personal than phone calls or emails, and they definitely help to build better relationships.

16. Backup your files regularly.

You never know when your hard disk will crash. Backup your files regularly to prevent a catastrophe.

17. Ask for feedback.

All of us have blind spots. Asking for feedback—from your boss, colleagues or employees who report to you—is a sure way to continually improve.

18. Keep a list of things that you’ve learned.

This list can include technical or generic things. Review this list periodically to consolidate your learning.

19. Arrive early.

Arrive early to work and to meetings. People notice—and besides, it’s the right thing to do.

20. Don’t complain.

Your colleagues will thank you for being a positive influence in the company, rather than a negative one. There are more than enough negative people around!

In closing…

I’m not the most experienced worker, but I’ve come to understand that becoming a better worker is really about becoming a better person.

A better worker pursues excellence, cares for others and makes them feel special, and focuses on getting results.

Let’s not waste this wonderful opportunity in our jobs to become people of greater character and competence.

As a by-product, you might just get that promotion.

Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Daniel Wong and was first published in Yahoo!News Singapore.

There’s a reason why it’s called a depressed economy. No one enjoys job insecurity or financial crises. Whether you’re frantic about getting fired, bumming out at your 9-5, or working in a doom-and-gloom atmosphere, make sure you follow this advice to do your best and keep spirits up on the job.

Become indispensable.
When downsizing poses a threat to your department, passivity can be killer while action is critical. Take this as your opportunity to shine, suggests Adele Sheele, career coach and author of Skills for Success. “In bad times, instead of wallowing, start contributing and see what’s needed,” says Sheele. Organizing task forces, taking on responsibility, and volunteering to head projects shows enthusiasm to your boss (not to mention inspires coworkers to match your gung-ho attitude). A tip from Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines: Become more valuable by expanding your skill set to include things that aren’t necessarily part of your job description. Learn new computer programs, or find out what tasks your superiors are responsible for that are unfamiliar to you.

Boost morale
“In the office, negative talk can lead to a downward spiral, which becomes contagious to others around you,” explains Julie Jansen, a career counselor and author of I Don’t Know What I Want, but I Know It’s Not This. Lifting the cloud over your cube can be as simple as saying, “Hey guys, what can we talk about that’s upbeat?” Something that seems little — telling a story or a joke, or asking about other people — can go a long way and change the feeling in the office for the rest of the day.

Come together.
“In down times, companies tend to put their employees’ noses to the grindstone even more,” says Jansen. “Encourage social activities like pizza parties or happy hours,” she suggests, as a way to combat pressure and encourage fun. But, don’t think that just because there’s an economic crisis you should stop reaching out once it’s over. “One of the things we saw in 9/11 was strangers coming together to help each other. We don’t need disasters to be better people. You should always be trying to do your best,” Sheele warns.

Do damage control before you need to.
Truly worried about the economy having a negative effect on your career? “Now’s not the time to panic or hide from potential insecurities,” advises Jansen. “You should always be networking and have an updated résumé.” In the meantime, think about what you can do to help your boss keep her job. If her position is stable, she’ll be more likely to make sure yours is, too.

The good news.
The unemployment rate is still relatively low. So while the economy may cause you anxiety, your job is probably safe. Nevertheless, getting your ducks in line, being proactive, and having a plan should make you feel more in control of your professional life and give you some relief. You might even crack a smile.

Editor’s Note: This article was written by Lenora Epstein and was first published in Cosmopolitan.

Congratulations—you got a job offer! You’re thrilled—and you should be—but keep your composure and don’t pop the champagne just yet.

Thank the company for the offer, then take some time to really evaluate it before you accept. Remember, this is a place you’re (hopefully) going to be for a while, so you want to take the time you need to determine whether it’s going to be the right fit for you.

What should you be thinking about at this point? Here’s a checklist of questions to ask yourself before you sign on the dotted line.

The Basics

For starters, make sure you and the employer are on the same page when it comes to the basics of the job and what success will look like.

Ask Yourself

- Do you have a solid understanding of the work you’ll be doing every day?
- Have you agreed on a job title that accurately describes the work you’ll be doing, fits into the company’s existing structure, and meets your professional goals?
- How will your success be measured? What are the specific goals and outcomes, and how will you be evaluated?
- What are the business hours, and what schedule will you be expected to work?
- What is the start date, and when does the company need to have your decision?

If You Don’t Have the Answers

If you don’t already have it, ask for a copy of the job description and review all of the expectations and responsibilities. If there are differences between what you discussed in the interview and what you see in the job description, or if you have lingering questions, call the hiring manager to get clarification. He or she is probably as eager as you are (if not more so) to have you start, and would be happy to answer your questions.

Salary and Benefits

Your salary and benefits package is a crucial factor when considering a job offer. For one, it’s much easier to negotiate on these items before you start the job than it will be down the line. Plus, benefits vary widely from company to company, so you don’t want to assume anything in this area.

Ask Yourself

- Is the salary in line with comparable positions in your area, and does it work for your personal budget? If not, are you able to negotiate?
- What does the benefits package include, and for what benefits are you eligible? When does your eligibility begin?
- Are there other benefits the company offers its employees—things like gym memberships, flexible work hours, tuition reimbursement, or wellness programs?
- Are there other financial considerations you should make—like a longer or more expensive commute?

If You Don’t Have the Answers

Ask for a formal offer letter, if you don’t have one, and make sure the salary is put in writing. If you have questions about how your salary compares in your field, do some research on sites like Salary.com and Payscale, or ask your friends and contacts for advice. When it comes to benefits, many companies have a one-pager that details their benefits package, including co-pays, deductibles, and eligibility periods. Don’t be afraid to ask for it, or to ask to speak with a benefits specialist if you have questions.

Your Supervisor

A supervisor can make or break a position, so be sure that you’re comfortable with your boss-to-be.

Ask Yourself

- What do you think about the people to whom you’ll be reporting? Is your supervisor someone you can learn from, and who can and will help you grow?
- Will you be given the tools and support you need in order to be successful?

If You Don’t Have the Answers

If you didn’t get to spend a lot of time with your supervisor during the interview process, see if you can set up a 20-minute meeting with him or her before accepting the position to ask questions and test out the working relationship. Or, ask if you can talk to another employee who reports to the same supervisor. Keep things light, but ask questions that could shed light on your new boss, like, “How would you describe his management style?” or “What do you like best about working for her?”

The Company and Co-workers

We spend far too much time at work to not be happy there. And considering how often you’ll interact with colleagues, it’s important that your new company and team is a great fit for you personality-wise.

Ask Yourself

- Are you comfortable with the company culture and working environment?
- Have you met your potential new co-workers? Can you see yourself getting along with them in a professional setting?
- Is this a company that you can believe in and feel excited and passionate about?

If You Don’t Have the Answers

Talk to anyone you know within the company (or who’s worked there before) about what it’s like. Don’t have any contacts there? Read through the company’s website, Facebook page, and current news to get an idea of what working there might be like. You can also check reviews on Glassdoor—though, as with anything, take disgruntled reviews with a grain of salt. Another insider tip: Look up profiles of the company’s current and past employees on LinkedIn. Do people typically stay for years at a time? If the company has high turnover, that could be telling.

Your Goals

Finally, as excited as you might be about getting a job offer, it’s important not to lose sight of your short- and long-term professional goals.

Ask Yourself

- Are you genuinely excited about this job—not just about getting an offer?
- Does the position use your talents and skills appropriately?
- Will the position help you advance your professional goals? If it doesn’t, what are you getting out of it?

If You Don’t Have the Answers

Unfortunately, there’s nothing the hiring manager can tell you that will answer these questions for you. So plan to spend time seriously thinking about what your goals are and how this position fits into them. Don’t be afraid to ask for several days to consider the offer, and take the time you need to make sure it’s the right fit.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you can accept the position—or not—knowing that you’ve made the most informed decision possible. And remember: No matter how grim the job market may look, you don’t have to take just any position that comes your way. After all, it’s worth finding a job that’ll truly be a good fit and won’t have you looking again a few months down the line.

Editor’s note: This article was written by Angela Smith originally published on The Daily Muse.

1. Leverage Your Competitive Advantage

Career plans should leverage your assets, set you in direction of your aspirations, and account for the market realities. The problem is, as we learned in the previous post, these three puzzle pieces are always changing, and are often not fully known. The best you can do is articulate educated hypotheses about each. “I believe I am skilled at X, I believe I want to do Y, I believe the market needs Z.” All plans contain these sorts of assumptions; good ones make them explicit so that you can track them over time. Essentially, you want to make explicit the things that need to be true for your plan to work. These hypotheses should lead you to specific actions. Companies often have broad missions like maximizing shareholder value, but as Jack Welch has said, maximizing shareholder value “is not a strategy that tells you what to do when you come to work every day.” Similarly, you may have broad aspirations, like “help interesting people do interesting things” or “design human ecosystems.” But real planning means plotting the specific steps it will take to make those aspirations happen.

2. Prioritize Learning

Many people defer collecting full-time wages by spending twenty-three consecutive years in school. A high school dropout can make more money in the short run than the guy stuck studying geology. But in the long run, the logic goes, a person with a foundation of knowledge and skills will make more money and most likely live a more meaningful life. It’s true. And there’s a similar belief in start-ups: technology companies focus on learning over profitability in the early years to maximize revenue in the later years.

Unfortunately, for far too many, focused learning ends at college graduation. They read about stocks and bonds instead of books that improve their mind. They compare their cash salary to their peers instead of comparing lessons learned. They invest in the stock market and neglect investing in themselves. They focus, in short, on hard assets instead of soft assets. This is a mistake. We’re not suggesting you be a starving, unshaven graduate student forever; you do need to earn money and build economic assets. But as much as you can, prioritize plans that offer the best chance at learning about yourself and the world. Not only will you make more money in the long run, but your career journey will be more fulfilling. Ask yourself, “Which plan will grow my soft assets the fastest?” Even simpler: “Which plan offers the most learning potential?”

3. Learn by Doing

Entrepreneurs penetrate the fog of the unknown by testing their hypotheses through trial and error. Any entrepreneur (and any expert on cognition / learning) will tell you that practical knowledge is best developed by doing, not just thinking or planning. In the early days of LinkedIn, the plan was to have members invite their trusted connections by email—an invitation mechanism would fuel membership growth. But it turned out the best way to enable viral spread was actually to enable members to upload their address books and see who else was on the service already. Learned by doing.

For careers, too, you don’t know what the best plan is until you try. I wouldn’t have known that academia wasn’t the path for me if I hadn’t enrolled in a graduate program. When I moved to the business world, I mistakenly thought my competitive advantage was being able to hold complexity in my head and master abstractions. Only when I started working, I discovered my real advantage in the internet industry was the ability to think both about individual psychology and social dynamics at massive scale.

Learn by doing. Not sure if you can break into the pharmaceutical industry? Spend six months interning at Pfizer making connections and see what happens. Curious whether marketing or product development is a better fit than what you currently do? If you work in a company where those functions exist, offer to help out for free. Whatever the situation, actions, not plans, generate lessons that help you test your hypotheses against reality. Actions help you discover where you want to go and how to get there.

4. Make Reversible, Small Bets

Occasional missteps are to be expected when you take an experimental approach to career planning. It’s the “error” part of trial and error. But these errors needn’t be permanent. Good Plan A’s can be stopped or reversed or morphed into a Plan B. A good Plan A minimizes the cost of failure. Don’t bet the farm. Iterate bit by bit, learn experience by experience. Start with a trial period. Keep your day job.

5. Think Two Steps Ahead

Planning and adapting means thinking carefully about your future. Lunging at the first well-paid and/or high-status job you come upon may offer immediate gratification, but it won’t get you any closer to building a meaningful career. A goal that can be achieved in a single step is probably not very meaningful – or ambitious. The business professor Clayton Christensen once told graduating students at Harvard Business School, “If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find [a] predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification.” At the same time, though, don’t do the opposite and think ahead too far in the future. Again, you will change, the world will change, the competition will change.

The best thing to do is to think and plan two steps ahead. If you’d like to be promoted from analyst to associate, it may mean a first step of building a relationship with a key partner, or taking a night course to pick up advanced financial management skills before taking that step of marching into the boss’s office and asking for that promotion. Sometimes the first step toward a goal is rather simple. A question people sometimes ask us is, “What’s the best way to get into Silicon Valley start-ups?” Well, there are various ways, but the first step is this: move here!

If you’re unsure what your first, or even your second step should be, pick a first step with high option value, meaning that it could lead to a broad range of options. Management consulting is a classic example of a career move that maximizes “optionality” because the skills and experiences of consulting can be helpful in and applied toward many other next steps, even if you’re not sure what those steps are yet. A good Plan A is one that offers flexibility to pivot to a range of possible Plan B’s; similarly, a good first step generates a large number of possible follow-on second steps.

Editor’s Note:
This article authored by Reid Hoffman was first published on LinkedIn.
Adapted from Reid’s book co-authored with Ben Casnocha titled The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career.

How to have a creative commute

Travelling takes up a large proportion of most of our days, with more and more of us prepared to commute long distances to our place of work. But this need not be wasted time — you just need to look at your journey from another perspective.

See your journey as an inspiring time — this will allow you to get the most out of your trip and ensure you start your working day on the right footing.

Still need convincing? We have come up with a few tips to get you started.

Make the most of your journey tip 1: Set yourself a target

When you’re on your way to work, why not think of something that you want to achieve en route, whether it be work-related or something purely for yourself. This may be the one way of not stressing-out if your journey is held up. You will have the satisfaction of knowing you have been able to achieve at least something in that time.Try cycling to work for a healthier, stress-free commute

Make the most of your journey tip 2: Prepare mentally for work

Spend a little time focusing on the day ahead and this will help you adjust yourself to the work place. Get things straight about what you need to tackle that day, and in what order you are going to approach them. A little bit of thought to help you slide into this work mode is time well spent, rather than leaving it to the moment you walk through the door — forcing you to head straight for the coffee machine!

Make the most of your journey tip 3: Recharge your batteries

Although you may not feel fully recharged and ready to tackle the day, there is a lot to be said about thinking positively and putting yourself in the right frame of mind. If your work position requires you to be bold and positive — then think bold and positive, get yourself into that work persona — this will act to both energise you and channel your confidence. If you travel by bus or train, don’t be tempted to have a snooze on the way in, morning naps have little benefit and have habit of making you feel groggy — not the best way to start the day!

Make the most of your journey tip 4: Stimulate your brain

Once you have dealt with the work matters in your mind, the remainder of your time is free for you. It is really time to let your mind wander and stimulate parts of the brain that you may not normally use. If your job requires you to do lots of number crunching, then you could consider doing something more creative, such as jotting down thoughts, drawings or even attempting that novel you have always said you were going to write. Draw inspiration from your surroundings — passing colours and shapes can stimulate parts of the brain that are normally neglected during you working routine. If however, your job requires you to be creative, then do the opposite — try a crossword or Sudoku puzzle.

Make the most of your journey tip 5: Stimulate the body

If you can, walk or cycle to work — this will act as the perfect wake-up as well as getting you to your destination. However, if you are confined to a car, bus or train, how about getting the blood moving by listening to some upbeat music? If you drive, having a good sing can be uplifting and dissolves any inhibitions — it is great to know that nobody can hear you! You could also consider doing some neck and facial exercises or just squeezing a stress ball as you go. Even if you are stuck in traffic — there is always an opportunity to do a bit of stretching.

Make the most of your journey tip 6: Get some fresh air

If you’ve been stuck in traffic, on a stuffy train or bus for some time, then make sure you get some fresh air — don’t just head straight for work. If possible, consider getting off a stop or two earlier, or even parking your car just that little bit further away. Of course, you will need to leave home just that bit earlier, but it will be worth it. You will feel more energised, stimulated, and you will have the opportunity to see things each day that you ordinarily wouldn’t have — all at no extra cost.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on http://www.realbuzz.com.

We all have bad habits. Perhaps you procrastinate, gossip, or lack punctuality. These negative behaviors don’t necessarily make you a terrible person—but as an employee they can reflect poorly upon you, and even cost you your job.

“A single bad habit is not likely to get you fired immediately, but the cumulative effect of the bad habit over time can,” says Dr. Katharine Brooks, director of Liberal Arts Career Services at The University of Texas at Austin and author of You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career. “People might notice one bad habit, and it preps them to notice other faults or problems.” Also, she adds, a bad habit can lead to isolation or shunning in the office, which can affect everything from your performance evaluation to your ability to do your job.

Rick Myers, the founder and chief executive of Talent Zoo, a site for marketing, advertising, and digital professionals, agrees that bad habits can destroy one’s career—but he says the “most unfortunate part is that people rarely realize they have these habits.”

“One of the best pieces of advice to give to someone who wants to advance in their company is to become more self-aware and be sure they are practicing habits that will be of value to the company,” he says.

Here are 14 bad habits that can cost you your job: