What to do if your boss is a Difficult to Interpret Communicator: Ask them to clarify what your goals are. You can suggest the form of from X to Y by WHEN. This will make sure that you're on the same page. Ask them what they think success would look like, and be specific. Say what it is and what it isn't. If they've asked you for something complicated or unreasonable, simply ask them "how would you suggest I do that?"
Read MoreAre you a subject matter expert that shares your expertise on an area outside of your role? Do you teach new skills to people on your team? Do you save your company money by providing in-house training? If so, do you ever consider how much that’s worth to your company? A simple way to express its value is to figure out how much it would cost to outsource it to another company.
Read MoreHere is a piece that I wrote this week in an answer to a blog I wrote before called This is your career. I wanted to show the two perspectives between passion and satisfaction. I hope you like it!
Read MoreIf 'time is money', then it must at least be a certain type of time - e.g. time spent working to create value. But if it takes one person two hours to complete a valuable task, and another person only one hour, then the second person is obviously more valuable (all other things being equal). The reality is that these days all other things are often equal: we have access to the same technologies, resources and all the same information online.
'There might be a difference in skill sets' I hear your say
Read MoreMake it beautiful: it doesn’t matter if it’s a website, document, design, presentation or excel spreadsheet. Make it beautiful and be proud.
Recognise the small stuff: a free coffee; a co-workers funny story; an unsolicited compliment; a helping hand. Nice… thanks.
Read MoreVideos, news articles, social media, emails and phones are all common distractions throughout our workday. How many of them are work related compared to just communicating about work? I'm writing about this not because I can do this perfectly myself, but because it’s something I’m focusing on improving. Deep Work, a book by Cal Newport...
Read MoreDisclaimer: This isn’t a business or marketing blog post. This is a coaching strategy blog post.
I’m really excited about writing this post because it’s always been a burning question for many people who come to me:
Question: "I know what I want to do...but can I get paid for it?!”
Answer: “I don’t know if you can get paid - but I do know that others are getting paid to do what you love doing. I also know that if you don’t try, you definitely won’t succeed."
Read MoreIt’s an difficult task eh? I know! I spent about 10 years looking for a job that I really wanted to do. There can be too many options and so many possible solutions. However, there are strategies mentioned below that I used and that will really help you, as long as you are prepared to do the work also!
I don’t pretend that these are always easy things to do, but I will promise that they are effective. The easy thing to say is that 'not everyone finds a job they like!' or 'get a job, any job!'. You’re reading this because you don’t want to get ‘any job’, you want a job that you love. And maybe you don’t know where to start.
Read MoreIf you read my blog on a regular basis you'll know by now that I'm a fan of many TED Talks and enjoy the ideas that are put forward there. Here is one of my favourite videos and a graphic below summarising the four main ideas that Shawn Achor highlighted. These are useful ideas for the workplace but also for general day-to-day life. I've used them myself and think they're awesome because they're so simplistic and yet effective.
Read More
