By Michael Redbourn
Doing A Job That You Hate Is Like Going To Prison
There are a huge number of people that really dislike their jobs and when they get up in the morning and head for their workplace, they feel like they’re going to be incarcerated for the next several hours, which in a sense they are.
Why Do People Hate Their Jobs?
By Ryan Murdock
Ryan Murdock’s pursuit of travel literature has taken him to some of the world’s most unforgiving places, including Mongolia, Tibet, Nicaragua, and North Korea, by Russian jeep, motorcycle, dugout canoe, horse and camel. Please visit http://www.ryanmurdock.com to learn more about his adventures and to follow his Road Wisdom blog.
I’m often asked what it’s like to work as a professional travel writer. Is “the world’s best job” all it’s cracked up to be? What’s it really like on those assignments? What happens behind the scenes, when the “camera” is off?
I reply quite honestly that all travel consists of endless waiting, long tedious flights, and days of monotony broken by that one fleeting experience when it all comes together and you glimpse something larger than yourself. But they never believe me. I’m sure you won’t either. So instead of boring you with lofty thoughts, I’ll share one of those experiences from a recent assignment to Ireland that didn’t make it into the article…
By Brenda Campbell
People frequently tell me that they can not meditate, they have tried, can not do it and have given up. So they miss out on all of the benefits that meditation can bring. Learning to meditate is like learning to do anything else; you begin knowing little or nothing and practice until you can do it without thinking. Start right now, find out why meditation is worth doing and follow these five steps that will make meditation easy.
Recently I was working with a young woman who told me that she was extremely stressed and unhappy with her work. She said that she had no time to herself, no time to think and her mind raced constantly. In an average day she had information overload from the time that she woke until she went to sleep. She would rise in the morning to the television, took her iPod when she went for a walk, listened to the radio to and from work – you get the picture. Sound familiar?
To start, we found some time during the day when she had zero information flow. The TV was turned off in the morning and no radio in the car to and from work. Just quiet time to contemplate. We then moved to meditation. “Well”, she said, “I have tried that. I can’t meditate and I hate it.” Turned out she had launched into an hour long session, could only last a short while and decided it was not for her. An all too common story.
What is meditation and why bother? Meditation is a process or technique that you use to clear and calm your mind. You can use meditation just for that purpose or you can focus your meditation on something that you desire such as prosperity or well being. Meditation has been scientifically shown to be a powerful healing tool and a self help tool for achieving stress reduction and better sleep. Many people enjoy the personal development, self awareness, inner peace and freedom that results from meditation. Successful entrepreneurs often claim that meditation creates clarity of mind which in turn effects their success.
So how do you meditate? The following five steps will help you to get started:-
By Sharon Eden
I’m cooking new things in my world about which I feel excited and energised. However, I also feel shaky and sometimes downright scared at the same time! What me? Ooooh yes! What if I mess up? What if people don’t like what I do? Or even… what if I succeed? No, not that! What will I do then?
And once upon a time those feelings would have deterred me. Once upon a time I would have, and indeed did, create excuses for not doing what I wanted to do because I was so frightened by the prospect of doing it. I sometimes even used my ex-husband as an excuse because, for sure, he disapproved of many of the things I already did. Hence the ‘ex’!
By Edward Hope
A speech can be interesting, informative and highly entertaining without being humorous. Most speakers are invited because they are well informed on a specific subject and it is of interest to the audience, the listeners do not necessarily expect to be entertained. For entertainment they would hire an entertainer. However, humor has a number of great benefits in helping the speaker to be more effective in achieving the overall purpose of their speech.
The advantages of using humor in your speech are: -
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By Edward Hope
Today, effective public speaking is about successfully communicating ideas and information that is worthwhile to the audience. It is no longer a fine art that only a few can aspire to. This means it is now easier for the ordinary individual to become an effective public speaker.
With effective public speaking being about the ideas being conveyed rather than fancy words and phrases, a conversational tone is considered in the majority of situations to be the most effective way to get a message across. An audience wants interesting content that they can use and do not expect fine oratory.
Public speaking has much in common with great conversation. Consider the situation where two people are in discussion. One person is talking and the other is listening. People are attracted to the conversation and soon the individual is in effect delivering a speech. All the person talking need do is raise their voice so all can hear and continue to speak in a conversational tone which is the most effective way.
One of the main topics business owners want me to coach them on is profitability. For the most part, the kind of people I work with don’t have money as the #1 thing on the list of values. It’s important to them of course, but usually they’re more motivated by personal or spiritual values, like making a positive difference in the world. I’m a person like that myself. But as a business coach, I’m also privy to the inner- dialogue, the self-esteem issues, and the confounding defense systems that cause roadblocks to financial solvency. These deep wounds and doubts can sabotage business profitability far better than a failing economy, a poor job market, or a competitive marketplace ever could. Chronic “underearning,” a habitual pattern of an otherwise healthy, bright person who does not earn enough money to pay for life’s basic necessities, is a type of self-sabotage.
The term “underearning” became popularized by the book, “Earn What You Deserve” by Jerrold Mundis. That book is probably 10 years old by now, but the topic is always relevant, particularly for self-employed people. There’s a bit of a chicken-or-egg quandary when you look at underearning and self-employment. Many underearners unconsciously gravitate towards entrepreneurship because it provides freedom from accountability, therefore allowing an underearner say “no” to success, or “yes” to business activities that don’t make financial sense. But I’ve also seen formerly successful people start their own business and get stuck in a cycle of struggle and poverty that didn’t plague them before. So perhaps an underearning pattern can be developed as a result of starting up a new business as well. It’s so prevalent, that there’s a 12-Step group called Business Owners Debtors Anonymous (BODA) where entrepreneurs who struggle with money gather for support around financial responsibility. There isn’t a BODA national website yet, but if you’re curious you can probably find a meeting through their parent organization Debtor’s Anonymous. Here are 10 Common Traits of Underearners: 1.Chronic pattern of not earning enough to meet your needs. 2.Being close-minded about work that offers financial stability. 3.Avoiding contact with people that want to hire you. 4.Working for trade, deep discounts, or pro-bono, instead of money. 5.Distracting oneself with romantic intrigue to avoid career issues. 6.Changing jobs/careers after startup, but before income begins. 7.Compulsively saying “yes” to work or clients that don’t pay enough. 8.Compulsively saying “no” or being afraid of opportunities that pay well. 9.When money is abundant, compulsively over- spending or creating debt. 10.Having a core belief system that says you are bad, and/or money is bad.
So what do you do if the word, “Underearner,” describes you? Besides taking a look at Mundis’ book, or checking out a BODA or DA meeting, you can start with self-observation. Be careful not to go into self-judgment. Most underearners feel enough shame already. Simply notice how you act when it’s time to make decisions or take actions that might help you earn money. Do you pull back? Get sick? Find some other distraction to throw yourself into, or work harder at the wrong tasks?
The good news is that you have a choice as to whether you continue to underearn, or change the dynamic. Every day, you have a choice. You can make those follow up calls to prospects, or not. You can take work that will pay enough for your bills, or you can try to “get by” a little longer. You can say yes to the right clients, and no to situations that are bad for you. You’re innately powerful, but when underearning shows up in your life, some part of you has lost touch with that power. Increasing profitability isn’t just something that you do. Indeed, there are systems and accountability structures that will help you make more money. But sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs happen when you change what you believe.
Copyright © 2009 Inspiration, Inc
Jaya Schillinger “The Turnaround Queen” at http://www.InspirationInc.com
is a certified life coach & small business consultant with over 20 years of business ownership & management experience in the fields of personal development, health, and beauty.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try one more time” – Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
When Thomas Edison was inventing the electric light bulb he certainly had his work cut out for him. Believe it or not after trying 10,000 times he had still not got a working bulb. And his response to someone who suggested he had failed…? – ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ What happened after that? He succeeded.
How many times would you try to make something work in your career, team or business? 2 or 3 times? 5 times? 10 times? Do you keep going with an idea for as long as Edison? Would you keep trying after all those ‘failures’?
No? Why not? Perhaps because most of us would lose faith in our idea or our ability to pull it off, lose motivation, decide it’s just not possible.
So what was Edison’s secret? How did he maintain his enthusiasm for and belief in his idea for so long and to such an outstanding level? How did he stay motivated?
First of all he must have truly believed his goal was possible for him to reach, he must have truly wanted to reach it and he must have known why he wanted to reach it.
Then there is a clue in that response ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ Every time he tried a way that did not work he quite simply did not see that as a failure.
And he was right. It wasn’t a failure because he now knew one more way that did not work. He had gained knowledge from the attempt. Perhaps he might work out one reason why it did not work and make an alteration accordingly for the next attempt. And that would take him one step closer to his goal.
And that’s one of the key messages here. It’s not just ‘don’t give up – keep going’, but also crucially ‘if it’s not working change the way you’re doing it!’ After all if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.
So if you’ve been struggling to see eye to eye with a member of staff – change your approach. If you are consistently unable to get out of the office before 7pm every night – make changes to your working methods. If your team aren’t all pulling together in the same direction – make changes to your management style.
Think of something you are struggling with at the moment and ask yourself the following questions:
* ‘What is stopping me from moving forward with this?’ Make a list.
* ‘What are the possible ways round the obstacles?’ Make a list.
* ‘What could I try differently this time?’ Make a list.
* ‘What am I going to try differently this time?’ Commit to taking action and give yourself a realistic but challenging deadline for it.
And if you reach the point of giving up remember another gem from Thomas Edison… ‘Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.’
Being motivated in business translates into success. If you’re unhappy with your job, it shows in how you present yourself, how you conduct your job and also carries over into your personal life. To stay motivated, business consultants recommend implementing self motivational tips, among them achievement, responsibility, advancement and recognition.
If you own a business, work with a business coach or executive coach to identify how things you feel passionate about can be applied to your work. If you work in management for someone else, suggest executive management training to get a fresh perspective on staying motivated. Any employee can benefit from business coaching because it provides open communication filled with self motivation tips.
Communication skills come in handy when exploring self motivational tips. Write down your mission statement and career benefits and refer to it often for motivation. Discuss them with a business coach or executive coach so they can be applied to your business success.
If people motivate you, consider executive management training where you can learn how to be a leader or mentor. Business consultants note that executive management training is a good motivational tool for fostering a team environment.
Business coaching can help identify self motivation tips for business. In many cases, business consultants say it’s a matter of mixing up the same daily routine by incorporating motivational activities. If you’re feeling bored, chances are others are, too. Open communication keeps everyone motivated.
If self motivation is lacking in business, use a business coach or executive coach as a sounding board. Business coaching can recognize where you went off track in reaching your goals and ambitions and offer the motivation you need.
A business coach or executive coach can assist you with self motivational tips, especially if you’re the one running the business. This type of support is essential in opening up communication. Through business coaching, you can apply communication skills for achieving positive outcomes as motivational mechanisms.
Communication is a great self motivation tool, especially when you surround yourself with others who are inspiring. This can be achieved through business coaching or executive management training. Or work on communication skills with a business coach or executive coach to create a motivating work environment.
Use your communication skills to express what matters most. This will give you the motivation to get it done. A revealing factor in executive management training is goals are often set too high. Set short term goals and use communication skills to announce results to sustain motivation for carrying out the next goal.
Rewards serve as an effective motivational tool. Although business consultants warn that the reward shouldn’t be the driving force behind the task, when used sparingly they could be great inspirations. Work with a business coach or executive coach to establish a rewards plan for when you successfully manage a challenging or difficult task.
Make daily progress towards your goal. Business consultants are often used to ensure your vision is carried out and that communication tools are used to motivate your entire team. Achieving success is a great motivation factor.