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Your boss and other leaders in your company are some of the most important people in your life. You need to build strong relationships with them. Yet, you have to be careful about stepping over the line. USA Today had an interesting article on brown nosing.
Relationship building is one of the four keys to career success. As a career success coach, I am always reminding my clients that they must build strong, long lasting mutually beneficial relationships with the important people in their lives. Unfortunately, no human relationship is without conflict. That's why you have to become adept at resolving conflict positively. I know a little bit about conflict resolution. It was the topic of my dissertation at Harvard.
A while back I wrote about a book called The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman who claims that you can learn to be lucky. In fact, Dr. Wiseman even lists five steps for learning to be lucky. First, don't assume there is nothing you can do about any situation. Make the decision to take control. Second, do something now. Third, make a list of various options. Be creative. Brainstorm. Come up with as many ideas as you can. Fourth, decide how you will move forward. Consider every possible alternative. Fifth, take action.
This is my first article for SelfGrowth.com since I became the Official Guide for Career Development. In this article I will be sharing the ideas on career and life success. They are based on the advice I provide my coaching clients and my Common Sense Success System (http://www.Commo SenseSuccessSystem.com/freedvdoffer).
The other day, I came across a succinct statement on goal setting and goal achievement from Denis Waitely… "The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures and emotions as if we've already achieved them." I really like what Denis has to say. Let's break it down. 1. Your goals need to be clear. 2. Your goals need to be written. 3. Your need to focus on your goals several times a day. 4. You need to visualize yourself achieving your goals.
If you want to become self confident, you need to do three things: 1) become an optimist; 2) face your fears and deal with them; and 3) surround yourself with positive people. Today, I'd like to focus on fear -- that uncomfortable feeling that prevents you from taking the action necessary to get what you want in life. What scares you? What have you done to overcome this fear? For many years, I would tell people that I really wanted to start a consulting business. Yet I never seemed to actually start it.
I chose November 4 as Use Your Common Sense Day because it is Will Rogers' birthday. Will was a great American humorist who was famous for saying, "Common sense ain't all that common." We are all born with five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. These senses help us navigate our way through the world.
Self-confidence is an important key to personal and professional success. If you want to become self confident you need to do three things. 1) Become an optimist. 2) Face your fears and take action. 3) Surround yourself with positive people. In this article, I'd like to focus on the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people. Positive people help your self-confidence because they tend to see the potential in you - even when you might not see it in yourself.
If you want to become interpersonally competent, you need to do three things. First, get to know yourself. Use this self knowledge to help you better understand and communicate with the other people in your life. Second, build solid, long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with the people in your life. Third, resolve conflict positively and creatively. Use conflict as an opportunity to strengthen your relationships. Sometimes, I find little nuggets in fortune cookies that I reference.
You create positive personal impact in three ways: 1) creating and building a unique and powerful personal brand; 2) being impeccable in your presentation of self -- in person and on line; and 3) knowing and following the basic rules of etiquette. I was reading an article in October 2009 issue of Laptop Magazine called "Manage Your Online Rep." It ended with this piece of advice… "Staying offline is impossible. So keep things classy, or you may be passed over for a job that you're otherwise perfect for. Actively manage your on line reputation.
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work." This quote from Daniel Burnham is a perfect to begin a post on outstanding performance. If you're going to set goals, you might as well set big ones. As Mr. Burnham says, big goals will "stir your blood." He ought to know, he designed famous landmarks like the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington DC. I agree with Mr. Burnham; many people set their sights too low.
This is a tough time to be looking for a job. Many of my career success coaching clients are having difficulty getting interviews let alone landing a job. However, I heard a story not too long ago about a new MBA from NYU who got five job offers. He did it by creating unique resumes especially tailored to the job for which he was applying. This takes work, but in this fellow's case, the hard work paid off. In the old days -- before computers -- creating unique resumes for every job for which you apply would have involved a mega amount of work. In the digital age, it's a lot easier.
You can become self confident by doing three things. First, choose optimism. Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. Second, face your fears and act. Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence. Action cures fear. Third, surround yourself with positive people. Don't let the naysayers into your life.
In my work as an executive coach, keynote speaker, leadership consultant and author I have spent the last five years studying what it takes to succeed in your life and career. I have found that successful people share five traits in common. 1. Successful people are self confident. 2. Successful people have positive personal impact. 3. Successful people are outstanding performers. 4. Successful people are excellent communicators. 5.
I'm often asked for my best thoughts on what it takes to become a career and life success -- the key competencies. I always tell my coaching clients to think systematically, to break success down into some manageable components. Here is a summary of what I tell my coaching clients on how to become a career and life success. Put these points to use and you will succeed, just like my coaching clients. Do it yourself. Realize that no one is going to do it for you -- not even your executive coach. You have to take personal responsibility for your success.
I was asked to review a new book, The Big Picture: Essential Lessons for the Movies. Authors Kevin Coupe and Michael Sansolo do a great job of discussing the business and career success ideas in almost 200 movies. This is a very thoughtful book. Kevin and Michael make some great points about success that pop up in some unlikely movies. For example, they use the movie Babe to make the point that it's important to be different -- and break some rules -- if you want to get recognized and succeed. That's great personal branding advice.
I liked the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony for its simple elegance. As I was watching, I took note of a line in Slam Poet Shane Koyczan' tribute to Canada, We Are More… And some say what defines usr Is something as simple as "please" and "thank you" The Canadian audience roared when they heard that line. After all, Canadians are known for being polite. Creating positive personal impact is one of the competencies that comprise my career success system. If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things.
If you want to create positive personal impact, you need to do three things: 1) create, build and nurture your unique personal brand; 2) dress for success; and 3) know and follow the basic rules of etiquette. Have you created your personal brand yet? What is it? How do you use it to help create your career success? If you have already created your unique personal brand, please leave a comment sharing your personal branding experiences with us. If not, listen up. Here's how to do it. I get lots of questions about how to create, build and nurture a personal brand.
To develop your personal clarity or purpose you need to do three things. First, define what success means to you. Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success. Third, clarify your personal values. Once you define what success means to you personally, I suggest that you develop a clear mental picture of you as a success. This image should be as vivid as you can you make it. When I was 25, I conjured up an image of myself as a successful motivational speaker, executive coach, management consultant and author.
Rodger Constandse runs a great site called Goals to Action. Yesterday, I received an e mail from him on the subject of procrastination.
I have learned that self confidence is an upward spiral. Self confidence leads to professional success, which in turn leads to increased self confidence, which leads to higher levels of success, and so on. You might be saying, "That's great, but how do I become self confident if I'm new in my job or career and haven't had a lot of success to bolster my self confidence?" There's an old saying that applies here: "Fake it till you make it." In other words, act as if you're successful. This will help you succeed.
You can become self confident by doing three things. First, choose optimism. Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. Second, face your fears and act. Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence. Action cures fear. Third, surround yourself with positive people. Don't let the naysayers into your life. Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general. Fear can -- and will -- paralyze you.
Successful people are clear on their purpose in life -- and they are committed to it. They take personal responsibility for creating the successful lives and careers that they want and deserve. I'm always looking for ways to get my common sense message about career and life success across to my clients. That's why I was struck by a passage in Tracy Chevalier's new book, Remarkable Creatures. If you don't know Tracy Chevalier, you should. For my money she is one of the best novelists writing today.
Dynamic communication is one of the keys to personal and professional success. My talents, your talents, everyone's talents will be recognized and rewarded if we develop and use our communication skills. You need to develop each of the three basic communication skills if you want to have your talents recognized. Conversation Skills Become a good conversationalist by listening. Take an active interest in other people and what they're saying. Show them you're listening by asking appropriate follow up questions to what they say.
Last Wednesday the Wall Street Journal ran a small article called "Apprenticeship 101." Diane Prucino, the co-managing partner at the Kilpatrick Stockton law firm in Atlanta offered suggestions on what young lawyers should do to succeed as an associate in a large law firm. One of the suggestions that Ms. Prucino offered was, "Find and use a good mentor." This is good advice, not just for young law firm associates, but for anyone interested in becoming a career and life success.
Belonging to a mastermind group is one of the best ways of building strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with the people in your life. To the best of my knowledge, Napoleon Hill was the first person to use the term mastermind group in his timeless work Think and Grow Rich. The idea behind a mastermind group is simple. No one person has sufficient experience, knowledge and ability to succeed in this life without the cooperation of other people. When you’re creating your success plan, it helps to get the input and thinking of as many people as possible.
As you know, all outstanding performers have three things in common:.1. Outstanding performers are technically competent. 2. Outstanding performers set and achieve high goals. 3. Outstanding performers are well organized. Well organized people manage time well. The other day, I came across an interesting quote on time from Luanne Oakes, PhD: "Time is within your control." My first reaction was "maybe in your world, Luanne, but try mine for a while and then we’ll see what you have to say." However, as I thought about it, I realized that Dr. Oakes is right -- time is within my control.
You can become self confident by doing three things. First, choose optimism. Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. Second, face your fears and act. Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence. Action cures fear. Third, surround yourself with positive people. Don’t let the naysayers into your life. Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general. Mentors, by definition, are positive people.
Self confidence is one of the keys to personal and professional success. You can become self confident by doing three things. First, choose optimism. Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. Second, face your fears and act. Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence. Action cures fear. Take responsibility for yourself and do something. Third, surround yourself with positive people. Don't let the naysayers into your life.
Dynamic communication skills are one of the keys to personal and professional success that I have identified. If you want to become a dynamic communicator you need to master three basic, but very important communication skills: Conversation, Writing and Presenting.
In an article on taking personal responsibility for finishing strong in 2009 and starting fast in 2010, I mentioned that the things that happen to us in life aren't as important as how we react to them. As I was writing, I was reminded of a something else I had written in the past. Stuff Happens: Choose to React Positively. Stuff happens: good stuff, bad stuff, frustrating stuff, unexpected stuff. Successful people respond to the stuff that happens in a positive way. Humans are the only animals with free will.
Commitment to taking personal responsibility for your success is one of the keys to career and life success. If you want to succeed, you must commit to three things. First, you must take personal responsibility for your success. Only you can make you a success. You need to be willing to do the things necessary to succeed. Second, you must set high goals -- and then do whatever it takes to achieve them. Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks.
If you want to create the successful life and career that you want and deserve, you need to perform at a high level consistently. High performers manage their time, life and stress well. They pay particular attention to their health and well being. It's impossible to perform at a consistently high level if you don't feel healthy and energized. In this post, I'd like to discuss two issues when it comes to managing your stress and feeling healthy and energized -- restoring energy and dealing with headaches. We all get tired, run down and out of sorts occasionally.
Lifelong learning is the first step in becoming an outstanding performer. In today's fast paced world, if you don't keep learning, you're not standing still, you're falling behind. One of my favorite quotes from Gandhi nails it when it comes to lifelong learning… "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." He's right. None of us should ever quit learning. I have a thirst for knowledge and do my best to quench it through learning. I try to learn something new every day. Sometimes my learning is trivial, sometimes it is profound.
If you want to succeed, you must commit to three things. First, you must take personal responsibility for your success. Only you can make you a success. You need to be willing to do the things necessary to succeed. Second, you must set high goals -- and then do whatever it takes to achieve them. Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks. You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals. I read an interesting article on the Huffington Post website by James Arthur Ray the other day. Mr.
In my work as an executive coach I have found that the single biggest mistake that people make is assuming that competence and performance are their ticket to success; when in fact they are merely the price of admission. Most people are good performers. It’s a huge mistake to think that good performance is the only element of a successful career. It takes a combination of self confidence, positive personal impact, outstanding performance, communication skills and interpersonal competence to succeed in your career and life.
The other day I saw a great quote from Margaret Thatcher… "Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it." Ole' Iron Maggie really nailed it with this one. I like this quote because it gets at the essence of commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and career. You demonstrate your commitment -- to yourself and to the world -- by doing three things. First, take personal responsibility for your success. Only you can make you a success.
This week Sue Shellenbarger had an interesting column in the Wall Street Journal called "Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work." The column focused on the application of recent research in positive psychology in the workplace. Put simply, positive psychology emphasizes building resiliency and positive attitudes instead of solving emotional problems. This is an approach whose time may have come. The latest Conference Board survey shows that 45% of US workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 52% in 2005 and 61% in 1987.
George Bernard Shaw is one of my very favorite playwrights. I always enjoy a production of one of his plays. I quoted him in a recent article and I'd like to quote him again.
Building relationships comes down to two words: trust and abundance. When you trust others you are willing to put yourself out there -- to give with no expectation of return, to act in a non quid pro quo manner. In a recent article, I pointed out that while there is nothing wrong with returning the favor when someone does you a good turn, waiting for others to help you is not a good idea when it comes to building relationships. Successful people are willing to put themselves out there -- to pay it forward. Paying it forward takes trust.
If you just got your first job, your first promotion, or are feeling a little bit stuck in your career, this article will provide you with some common sense advice on how to become a career and life success. I’ve been studying successful people, and have found that they share five traits in common. 1. Successful people are self confident. 2. Successful people have positive personal impact. 3. Successful people are outstanding performers. 4. Successful people are excellent communicators. 5.
In the new George Clooney movie, Up in the Air, George plays an outplacement consultant who has a speaking business on the side. He uses a backpack as a metaphor in his speeches. The first time we see him doing a speech in the movie, he is urging the audience to empty their backpacks of the unnecessary "things" in their lives. "Not bad," I thought. "He's suggesting that life is more than a race to gather possessions." The next time we see him doing a talk, he is urging the audience to empty their backpacks and lives of all of the relationships in them. "No way" I thought.
I came across a Japanese proverb that relates to two of the four pillars of my Common Sense Success System: clarity and purpose of direction and commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and success. Vision without action is a daydream.
Interpersonal competence is one of the keys to personal and professional success that I discuss in several of my books. If you want to become interpersonally competent you need to do three things. First, get to know yourself. Use this self knowledge to better understand and communicate with others. Second, build solid, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with the people in your life. Third, resolve conflict in a creative manner and with little upset to your relationships. The other day I came across a prayer attributed to Cary Grant.
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of knowing yourself when it comes to building relationships. Today, I'd like to focus on building relationships on the internet. The internet gives you the opportunity to maintain relationships with people you know well, strengthen relationships with people you know only a little and build new relationships with people who can help you create the successful life and career you want and deserve. I believe that LinkedIn is the best social network for professionals. Facebook, Plaxo and Twitter are OK too.
Clarity of purpose and direction is one of the keys to career and life success. To develop your personal clarity or purpose you need to do three things. First, define what success means to you. Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success. Third, clarify your personal values. Once you define what success means to you personally, I suggest that you develop a clear mental picture of you as a success. This image should be as vivid as you can you make it. The other day, I was having a conversation with one of my coaching clients.
To develop your personal clarity or purpose you need to do three things. First, define what success means to you. Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success. Third, clarify your personal values. To develop your clarity of purpose you need to carefully think through your priorities -- and then align your behavior to ensure that you are living according to them. To do so, ask yourself two very important questions: 1. What do I want to do in this life? 2. What is the result I want to achieve?
You can become self confident by doing three things. First, choose optimism. Believe in your heart of hearts that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. Second, face your fears and act. Procrastination and inaction feed fear and rob you of self confidence. Action cures fear. Third, surround yourself with positive people. Don't let the naysayers into your life. Hang around with people who are positive about themselves, their careers and life in general. Fear is the enemy of self confidence. Self confident people face their fears and act.
In my work as an executive coach I have found that the single biggest mistake that people make is assuming that competence and performance are their ticket to success; when in fact they are merely the price of admission. Most people are good performers. It’s a huge mistake to think that good performance is the only element of a successful career. As any executive mentor will tell you, it takes a combination of self confidence, positive personal impact, outstanding performance, communication skills and interpersonal competence to succeed in your career and life.
In my executive coaching work, I have found that all successful people have five things in common. • Successful people are self confident.r • Successful people create positive personal impact.r • Successful people are outstanding performers.r • Successful people are great communicators.r • Successful people are interpersonally competent. Abraham Lincoln once said something that applies to the idea of creating positive personal impact.