Personal Development

Having done recruitment for long, I know that most of us have a think over the holidays and come up with revolutionary plans for January and the year ahead. Some of us follow through on these plans, some of us don’t. What are the factors that make for effective resolutions? Well, these are rules that work for me and people around me so I thought I’d share them well before you start getting to work on next years action plans.
 
1. Make them achievable
 
Don’t cheat yourself when making resolutions. If your goal was to quit smoking this year and the last 7 years, you are not very likely to kick the habit next year. If you set a goal that you won’t achieve, it will only have a demoralizing effect on your psyche and you are worse off. Be honest with yourself and set objectives that will challenge and stretch you but definitely are achievable with hard work.
 
2. Make them measurable 
 
What gets measured, get done as the wise fellow said. Buying a house on stilts, travelling to Patagonia, auditioning for the X-Factor are all goals that you will know when you have achieved. Merely saying ‘learning old church Slavonic’ isn’t good enough, it has to be more detailed than that. Make it: ‘will take 50 lessons and pass exam level B and be able to order fine wine at a restaurant in Slavonia’. If you can come up with milestones or through goals, that’s even better as you can track your progress easier.
 
3. Write everything down
 

LinkedIn is arguably the best tool for finding new vacancies outside of job boards and using recruiters outright. If you have not set up a profile, get that done straight away. Have a look at 9 Ways to Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile as well.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it allows the employer and/or recruiter to find you instead of the other way around. By keeping a high profile, you will be noticed and contacted sooner rather than later. You keep a high profile by being active, joining groups and getting involved in discussions.
 
Joining relevant groups on LinkedIn allows you to extend your personal brand and also reach out to more people as you can contact any group member directly. Groups are useful for news postings, discussion boards, updates in general, networking, questions and answers and so forth.
 
So what groups should a job seeker join? Well, recruiters trawl a lot of groups but as a rule of thumb you want to go for the big and established ones. You can join up to 50 groups and it’s all free.
 
These are the LinkedIn groups you have to join (all clickable links):
 

1. A Job Needed – A Job Posted 

The title says it all, claims to be fastest growing, and the most productive group in the career and recruitment segment. About 9k members at the moment.
 
2. Career Change Central

A group for job changers and people in career transition to meet in a central place with recruiters, hiring managers, and career coaches. Has racked up 11k members.
 

Danish entrepreneur Morten Lund made millions when he and a few other early investors exited Skype and sold up to eBay to the tune of $2.6 billion. He was forced to declare personal bankruptcy in early 2009, after a newspaper venture turned sour.  

Morten doesn't let this get him down and although he lost all his money, he still has what matters to him. Start watching from about 2.30, I hope he will inspire you like he has me.

How would you deal with losing a fortune?   

Technorati stuff: RGYCTM2HFMWU

 
Why do you do what you do for a living? If you say that you love what you do, you are lucky. Only a small minority can actually claim to be happy doing what they do. 

Most people will say they do their job for the money. They would ideally want to do something different but they believe they have to stay and do more of the same to get that income. Here are the top 5 reasons you should not just chase those dollar bills:
 
1. You will never make enough
 
There will never be enough hours in the day to earn enough if you are not having your money work for you. There is only so much one individual can do in a job and this is what you will be paid for. You can only be paid for the work you are doing and never earn passive income. Being employed is very much “the more you put in, the more you get out” when in fact you could put less in and get more out if you only knew how to. Starting a business on the side, investing in the markets or in real estate, creating work that will generate royalties will allow you to make passive income. This will in turn free you up to focus on what you really enjoy in life. Your day job will not make you wealthy and will not open you up to new opportunities outside of your day to day tasks.
 
2. The debt spiral
 

This article is all about goals, why they are important, how you can set them and finally how to achieve them. First off, what is a goal? Well in this context, a goal is a personal objective. Something you want to achieve within a specific period of time.

All successful people are goal oriented. They know exactly what they want they are working toward the achievement of their goals every single day. They tend to accomplish far more than the average person in all aspects of life.

Goals are flexible and can be used for short term tasks such as booking a holiday or long term goals such as graduating from university. So how do we actually work with goals? There are myriads of ways to do this; I will present the 5 steps I have found working well. Remember that this is an important life skill so pay attention...

1. Decide exactly what you want

The more precise and clear your goals are the easier it will be to know when they are complete. Just like in business, objectives should be specific and measurable. Ensure they are achievable and that are within the realms of reality otherwise you will run the risk of them becoming demotivating. For instance, the chances of me winning a Nobel Prize this year are very slim but me doing my next Toastmasters speech before Christmas could actually happen.

2. Write it down

If you do not write your goals down, they will merely be wishes. Something magical happens when you put pen to paper, your writing etches its way into your subconscious. I have found that writing by hand is more powerful than on a computer, just as with any learning.

3. Make it time bound