I recommend giving yourself positive affirmations daily.

I’m a great innovator.
I have excellent ideas.
My approaches are unique and effective.

Voice your strengths, even if only internally, or write them down. Better yet, voice them to others. If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you, too. Pinpoint your strengths, develop them, and demonstrate them. This is the Cycle of Continuous Improvement, which will help you build personal equity and secure your future.

Filed under: Self Awareness
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Have you been writing down your goals? Are you checking in with yourself periodically on your progress, and telling friends and business partners about the work you’re doing? These are a few simple things you can do each week to make your goals more concrete and help you keep moving forward. Keep your aims real and tangible. Write them, speak them, and show them. Even if your goals are simple, go through this process.

For example, let’s say you want to arrive at work on time every day this week. This may seem insignificant, but being on time regularly demonstrates your reliability. Write this goal down on Sunday. Put it in a place you will see it often, such as on the wall near your computer. Check in with yourself throughout the week. Tell your partner, “This week, I am setting the goal of arriving at work every day on time.” Hopefully he’ll check in with you during the week to see how you’re doing. At the end of the week, evaluate how you did. If you met your goal, reward yourself. Then set a higher goal for next week. With this process, you increase the likelihood of success for any goal, large or small, minor or major, short-term or lifelong.

Filed under: Goals
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In down times when motivation doesn’t come easily, you can try a number of tactics to get back on your feet:

1. Take action. We all have times when the last thing we feel like doing is springing to action, but those times are often when we need to get to work the most. The smallest actions can start to build lasting forward momentum. They say that the first few steps on a path are the hardest to take. Once you get going, you tend to stay going.

2. Revisit your passions. Take some time to think about your purpose and your plan. What do you want, and why do you want it? Call up a friend and talk about recent progress. Maybe he has some ideas.

3. Give yourself a day off. When was the last time you took a day to do nothing? A period of calm can give way to a magnificent storm of creativity and productivity. If you’re mentally, physically, or emotionally exhausted, just rest and be idle.

Filed under: Motivation
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Who are the repeaters and boosters in your life? Repeaters are people who tend to share information and make recommendations. Boosters are people who not only share information, but who have a platform from which to disperse information to a wide audience. We don’t all know a booster with connections to a large group of people or the media, but most of us know at least one repeater.

Spend some time with the repeater(s) in your life. Talk to them about your goals, projects, and personal brand. Give them advertising materials to pass out, if they’re amenable to that. Off the top of my head, I can think of five friends who have enthusiastically promoted my work to many of their friends, with very little prompting from me. Make the most of the resources you’ve got. This is a critical component of success.

Filed under: Accelerants
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How can a small business owner who has only a handful of clients expand? As this Inc.com article reminds us, the best way to get new clients is to seek out referrals from current clients. If you run a small Web design company, those clients of yours who need a new Web site are likely to have friends who need the same. Who are they more likely to trust for a recommendation than their friends and business associates?

You can go about this in several ways. The simplest way is to mention to current clients that if they know anyone in the market for your services, you’d appreciate a shout-out. Another popular strategy is to offer a referral discount—if the current client brings in a new one, he’ll get $50 off his next bill. A less direct approach is to gather testimonials from current clients and use those on your Web site or in your advertising materials. The peers of your clients are your most likely new and future customers.

Filed under: Personal Marketing
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Successful people are often revered for their time management skills. Their days have but 24 hours, just like everyone else’s, yet they manage to accomplish more than most people. How do they do it?

1. They say no to things that aren’t priorities. Successful people are in control of their lives. They don’t let themselves get sucked into activities that they don’t enjoy, or that don’t contribute to attainment of their goals. If they do participate in events out of obligation, they keep it short and maximize their time. They don’t spend a lot of hours in idle activities that contribute little or nothing to their lives. They make the most of every moment.

2. They say yes to things that are priorities. Once a successful person has committed himself to a goal, he dives into pursuits that will move him closer to it. Even the menial tasks are not a burden because he has the big picture in view. He knows that a little bit of tedious work right now will lead to greater freedom and enjoyment in the future.

3. They know what they want. Successful people understand their passions and have figured out how they want to channel them. Hence, they can devote all the energy other people spend wondering, pondering, escaping, and meandering on goal achievement. Having a strong sense of purpose and direction is highly motivating.

4. They prepare. People for whom everything seems to go right usually have a clear idea of what they want before they even get started. They plan for each interaction, phone call, meeting, and day. They write down their goals and weekly action items and see them through. They think through multiple possibilities and decide how they will deal with any outcome they face. Because successful people know what they want, they can aim for it directly. This makes every interaction more efficient and solid.

5. They know themselves. Smart time managers know how they work best. Through their experience, they have learned to identify typical obstacles to their progress. With the knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses, they know how to plan and handle most any situation, making the most of the time they have.

Filed under: Accelerants
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Successful businesses and businesspeople are skilled at reinventing the old into the new, constantly regenerating and renewing. How can you do the same? Here are a few ideas:

1. Meet new people. Particularly for those who have the same friends for many years, making some new ones can be enlightening. Of course, we all benefit from knowing people who have seen us through our ups and downs and know us very well, but we can also learn a lot from someone who is forming a brand new impression of us. Each new person you meet offers a clean slate. What do you want to show this person, and what does she pick up on? What old traits do you want to let go of, and which new ones are you inclined to highlight?

2. Give yourself a makeover. Get a nice haircut, start eating smarter and working out more regularly, and spiff up your wardrobe. Taking good care of yourself shows other people that you value yourself and you believe you have a lot to offer. You’re worth the investment.

3. Take a snapshot. What are you holding onto from the past that you should let go of? Are there lingering doubts, fears, or reservations about yourself and the future? Take a good look at yourself as you are. What do you have? What are your strengths today? What are your assets, and how can you use them to leverage more for yourself? Let go of the baggage of the past and move confidently and optimistically into your future.

Filed under: Accelerants
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In improving our lives and intensifying our careers, change is inevitable. Many people are afraid of change. In fact, people often stay in unsatisfying jobs or relationships because the comfort of the known is more acceptable than the discomfort and fears associated with the unknown. However, bear in mind that what you do not have now you could have if things changed. Answer your fears with thoughts about the improvements you could enjoy.

When you are facing change and having trouble coping, revisit the things that are constant in your life—your favorite hobbies, places, and people. Connect with all the touchstones in your life, the things that are steady and reliable. Some of these may dissolve along with your old habits and circumstances, but you always have something to come back to, some part of yourself that remains unchanged.

Filed under: Self Awareness
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To move ahead in your career successfully, you need to spring from a place of strength. Here are a few ways to fortify your personal foundation:

1. Know yourself. Get a good grip on what you want. What are your passions, and what goals spring from those? Instead of concentrating on what anyone else in your life wants from you, focus down on what you want for yourself. Do you work better on your own or with a team? Do you like to work under pressure, or do you prefer to pace yourself. Figure out what makes you tick, and arrange your life so you can live the way that works best for you.

2. Commit. Successful people set goals and pursue them tirelessly. Those who accomplish big things throw themselves into their work, fueling themselves with their dreams and obsessions. Don’t waste time wondering what you’ll be missing out on if you do something. Use that energy to do it well.

3. Ask for help. Leaders and superachievers admit that they don’t know everything and they need professional and personal support. Asking for help from others is not a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of strength, balance, and confidence.

4. Keep an open mind. In planning for your future, consider various possibilities. While having specific targets is a great strategy that will help you focus and accomplish your goals more efficiently, be prepared to take alternate routes to your destination.

Filed under: Personal Strategic Planning
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Every day presents tens of opportunities to meet new people and make contacts that will lead to business opportunities for you. Here’s how to connect with that business partner at a conference, person in line at the bank, or stranger at a party:

1. Give him the power. Allowing the other person to assume the dominant position in the conversation makes him more comfortable and more likely to open up to you. A great way to give control is to ask a question. People love to share their knowledge and information and talk about themselves. If you ask the host of a dinner party how he went about getting such great landscaping, he’s very likely either to tell you all about his landscaper and the great work he did or recount the project that he himself engineered.

2. Establish common ground. This is easy to do. People automatically search for overlapping areas of interest. Even in line at the bank, you can initiate simple rapport. “The line seems to move much faster at this hour.” Your counterpart will most likely respond in the affirmative, and establishing this tiny connection can lead to a great conversation about, for instance, what line of work she’s in. Maybe she’s in PR and you’ve been looking for someone to write up a press release about your new business. Maybe she’s looking for a PR person and that happens to be your specialty.

3. Compliment and inquire. At the dinner party, tell the host how nice a job he did on the landscaping, then ask for tips. Sharing information fosters trust and connection. If you haven’t learned about his occupation by now, this is a great time to find out. It could be that he’s looking for someone to design a Web site for the sports league he runs. That someone could be you.

4. Say “by the way”. If you haven’t solidified the connection by the end of the conversation, ask if you can call for home renovation advice. Even if he doesn’t offer you his details, give him your business card and tell him it was nice talking to him.

Filed under: Networking
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Thanks to everyone who submitted blog posts for this week’s carnival. 

Although I put up the entire posts of the five bloggers I selected for the carnival this week, I encourage you to visit their blogs and scroll through their archives.   Click the links below to check them out.

Click Here for Christine Kane

Click Here for David Maister

Click Here for My Bubble Life

Click Here for Aridni

Click Here for The Sunjay Times

Each of the authors of the posts selected will receive a signed copy of Career Intensity.

You can catch the Carnival of Career Intensity here each and every Saturday.  Here is a refresher about how it works:

Each week I pick five posts I think best demonstrate Career Intensity from the submissions I receive.  I am looking for posts that add value to careers of my readers.  Preference will be given to posts that are funny and in some way stroke my ego. I am aware that this criterion is totally subjective and unfair.  Please don’t e-mail me to complain.  Complaints will only serve to make me angry – which will decrease your chances of winning.

The carnival opens on Saturday at 9 AM (Eastern Time) with Post Number Five that week. Post Number Four goes up at 11AM.  Post Number Three goes up at 1PM.  Post number Two goes up at 3PM. And the big winner for that week goes up at 5PM.  I will run each post in its entirety and provide a link to the contributing blog. 

Each author of the five posts selected for display will receive a signed copy of my book Career Intensity:  Business Strategy for Workplace Warriors and Entrepreneurs.   I will e-mail the winners and ask for their addresses.  Please do not include them with your posts. 

Admission to the Carnival of Career Intensity is on a rolling basis. If your post does not make it this week, don’t despair, I might use it next week. Submit posts around the clock by e-mailing:  carnival@careerintensity.com

You can also enter by filling in the form at http://blogcarnival.com

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This week’s top post is from Christine Kane.

Title:     Become Your Own Expert

Link:     Click Here to Read the Post on Christine’s Blog

The Post:

This is part 1 of a multi-part series on money, prosperity, clarity, and anything else that came up as I’ve written it.

“An expert is a person who avoids small errors as he sweeps on to the grand fallacy.”
- Benjamin Stolberg, Journalist & Author (1891 - 1951)

I’ve succeeded for 13 years professionally as an independent self-employed artist. So, I’ve had to go through many lessons around money, prosperity, lack, abundance, and accounting systems. I hardly ever talk about this with anybody as there seems to be an unspoken agreement among artists not to talk about money — which is probably why it feels so odd to choose to write about it. I think those of us who aren’t corporate or who don’t wear a neck-tie are all supposed to leave money matters to the experts. I don’t think anyone should leave anything to the experts.

The problem I have with experts is that I no longer believe in them. (Oops.) I believe in teachers. I believe in coaches. I believe in wisdom. (Okay, I’m beginning to sound like Don Williams meets Deepak Chopra.) But not so much in experts who purport to know more about your finances, your body, your health, or your life than you. Here’s why:

An expert in any given field — let’s say money — is operating from a limited context. He sees only the entity of money. And he tends not to look at it holistically. If you see money as more than just a paper exchange and as an actual consciousness, then its context shifts. And if you add another field of consciousness to the picture — yourself, for instance — then the context shifts even more because you bring thought forms, beliefs, and emotions into the picture. No expert can claim to have knowledge of the full spectrum of a field of energy like money, especially as it applies to other fields of energy — like us!

An example of this limited context paradigm is the Western medical approach to illness. A Western doctor (the “expert”) will look at a symptom (i.e., constipation) and address it as an isolated symptom. He will prescribe a laxative and send the patient on his way. The remedy may work on that symptom, but may actually harm the system even more without addressing the cause of that symptom. An Eastern practitioner trained in Chinese Medicine will look at the patient as an overall system. The practitioner will take pulses, evaluate all of the organs, and consider the emotions and thoughts of the patient. Treatment is based on the full picture. But that practitioner won’t give a laxative. The problem is not the constipation. The problem is an imbalance that causes that symptom. Fix the imbalance and you heal the problem and the symptom goes away. This is not expert. It is wisdom. Most experts are not wise. They just know a limited set of facts. (Not to mention that the medical world is now under the very powerful influence of pharmaceutical companies.)

Of course, most people who defy the experts are typically shunned and cast out of their fields. Bruce Lipton, a remarkable biologist, comes to mind. If you ever get a chance to see him speak, you’ll love him. His book, The Biology of Belief, is great, but not as good as hearing him talk.

Another reason I don’t like experts is that many mainstream expert opinions are born out of fear, and mostly just keep us scared, helpless, and reactionary. After all, they’re the experts and you’re…well…NOT. In the same way that I am wary of experts, I’m also wary of fear. Advice based in fear says, “Stay helpless. You have no power.” My feeling is that instead of messages like, “Be Scared. Be VERY Scared,” the messages should read, “Be Conscious. Be VERY Conscious.” Lasting solutions don’t come out of panic or fear.

Here’s the last reason: I have, at times, given my power to the experts, and I’ve had to do some defying myself. A major instance of this occurred when I got to have a session with a very famous success guru/author. I had admired this person deeply. (I still do actually.) At that time, I was just beginning to record my CD Rain & Mud & Wild & Green, and had borrowed quite a bit of money to begin the project. This author listened to my situation and told me to stop doing music and to get a job. Seriously. The author was very grave about this without ever having heard my music or my performance. For the next several weeks, I had to come to terms with the fact that this expert whose encouragement I so wanted had pretty much dismissed me and my life’s work. I chose to defy the expert though. I made the decision not to get a job, to finish with the CD and move in the direction of my intent. It worked. I’ve said this before, but that CD sold five times more in the first year than any other I had released. It continues to do very well, too.

(Side note: It cracks me up to watch the media use experts and “expert opinion” to hook viewers. The Weather Channel alone provides endless stage-banter material. The mere fact that TWC has gotten us all to believe that we need a Winter Weather Expert who sits at this Assemble-It-Yourself-IKEA-Expert-Desk is simply awe-inspiring. (”No, no, no, Jim Cantore, you can’t sit here, as you are not an expert. Only Paul Kocin can sit here! You go back out and cling to a telephone pole in a hurricane or something.”) I’m not exactly sure what rigors one must go through in order to become an expert in all-things-cold, but I would like to know why they don’t have a Summer Weather Expert? Surely there’s a margarita-sipping-fin-hat-wearing Buffet fan out there somewhere that could stand in on occasion…)

So, here’s what I’m NOT saying: I’m NOT saying to turn your back on the massive amount of wisdom being offered out in the world. (Unless, of course, it’s the Weather Channel.) I’m saying to use it to make informed decisions and become aware of your own life, your own values, and your own situation. I could certainly see why a success author wouldn’t want to encourage an artist to go into debt to make a CD, especially since that author had probably heard a lot of bad CD’s along the way. But my life experience taught me to turn the other way and decide something else — to look at my life holistically and to rely on the power of my own intent.

Here’s what I AM saying: What I AM saying is that we are each called to be an expert in our own life, and then help other people be experts in theirs. Being an expert in your own life requires that you also become an expert in process as you keep changing and growing. Books, classes, lectures, workshops are all helpers and guidelines, but you ultimately will do best if you become your own expert. Is it harder to do this? Yes. Because you have to consistently be conscious and aware and present. And because you have to be willing to make mistakes sometimes and defy the grouchy experts — and when it comes to money this can be scary.

I’m also saying that in this context, money is not a segmented or separate part of your life. It’s tempting to say, “I don’t do money. I’m a teacher.” Or “I’m an artist. What does this have to do with me?” Your life is a whole picture. I’m going to keep that idea as a backdrop as I write this series…

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The original Trusted Advisor – David Maister submitted post number two this week.

Title:     The Power One

Link:     Click Here to read the post on David’s Blog

The Post:

I attended the graduation of my niece, Fiona, from the University of Virginia. The commencement speaker was Tom Wolfe, author of The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities and many other works. I’ve been a fan of his work, especially his earlier non-fiction writing, for a long time.

As a speaker, he did meander a bit, covering many of the themes he has previously written about. However, his main point was very effective.

Using the examples of Jesus, Mohammed, Marx, Freud and many others, he pointed out that the world has frequently been changed profoundly through words, offered by an individual without an institution to back them up.

I’m not sure how the graduates reacted to his point, but as a writer without an institution around me, I, of course, found it very inspiring.

There’s nothing like flattering your audience into thinking they could be compared to great people.

His point also reminded me of Peter Drucker’s often quoted message that, in business and elsewhere, nothing ever happens except when it is created by “a monomaniac on a mission.”

A little less flattering an image to accept for oneself, but equally accurate.

My version?

Whatever it is that I want to see happen — it ain’t up to THEM. It’s up to ME.

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My Bubble Life comes in with Post Number Three this week.

Title:     A Career Built on Character

Link:     Read the post at My Bubble Life

The Post:

“Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.” ~Elmer G. Letterman

“The best job goes to the person who can get the job done without coming up with excuses or passing the buck” ~Napolean Hill

What About Politics?

Political Astuteness is something that you may not learn in school; however, it plays a significant role in success in business.

“Man is by nature a political animal.” ~Aristotle

Take Control. It’s important to keep in mind that you are responsible for your own career. Don’t Expect the Human Resources Department to plan your career. In fact, don’t expect anyone else to be concerned about it either.

There have been times in my career when someone has taken an interest in my promotion; however, it has always been in their own best interests to do so. Remember, companies are in business primarily to make money.

Dress for success. There is a clear distinction between how a President, a Senior Vice-President, a Vice-President, and District Manager dress. You should dress just a cut above your current level.

Above Everything, Have Integrity

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” ~Alan Simpson

You will find that the concentration of integrity increases the higher you go in an organization.

Remember Who You Work For

Always Support the Company. It’s true that where your treasure is, your heart will be also. There will be ample opportunities on a daily basis to bash your employer. Resist those opportunities. Keep in mind that (1) you chose this company, (2) they pay you, and (3) you can leave if you want. The leaders of the company will not be impressed by your ability to complain.

Make Your Boss and Your Boss’s Boss Look Good. As a practical matter, you are most likely working to take your boss’s job. Hopefully, your boss will be promoted, which will leave a vacancy. If your boss is not going anywhere, then the next level will have a major impact on your next position.

Who are the Leaders of the Company? Find out the background of the company executives. What career path did they take? Chances are, they will value those credentials above others. Take note of great people in the company and get connected to them. If possible, find a way to work for them. If not, establish a network with as many of them as possible. The best possibility is to ask one of them be your mentor. You will be surprised how many people will be interested in helping in this regard.

Bubble UP! is dedicated to helping you make better choices. We believe choices are the currency that converts the present to the future. Since the Information Age is filled with a blizzard of requests for your attention, traditional time management tools are no longer adequate. That’s why Bubble UP! creates tools that Think Like You Do!

Life Doesn’t Give You One Thing at a Time, Why Does Your Planner?

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Post number four this week is from Aridni.

Title:     The Day I Knew I’d Never be Wealthy Without a Change

Link:     Click Here to Read Katie’s Post on Her Blog

The Post:

Sometimes, I think I’m on the right track—a job to pay for living expenses and side projects to grow future wealth. Am I set? Not at all.

I was describing my not-so-impressive job to a friend when the truth came out the other day. It was a truth I hadn’t even realized until I said it, too. I meant to say, “My boss has his company structured so that…” Yet that’s not what I said at all. With a slip of the tongue, I called my boss MY OWNER.

“My owner has his company structured so that…”

Anyone else ever feel that way? Perhaps some change is needed.

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Welcome to the Carnival of Career Intensity. 

Post Five this week comes to us from The Sunjay Times.

Title:     Get a Job for the Right Reason

Link:     Click Here to Read the Post on Jay’s Blog

The Post:

There’s an awesome blog post on Business Pundit by rob. It touches many important points about work and life (and business). The line between work life and personal life is a rather blurry one and I seriously doubt you can entirely separate both. You will probably spend most of your hours awake, working anyway. So rather than lie about it, just be honest and admit that ( work = life ) and ( life = work ).

Work sucks. It sucks because at its core it has become impure. Business used to be about providing value to the customer. Entrepreneurs captured a portion of that value creation as profit. The more value they created, the more profit they could make. But then along came Wall Street. Obsessed with quarterly profit increases and seeing them as disconnected from value creation, Wall Street encouraged businesses to think short-term. The things that led to value creation - things like innovation, continued learning, employee development, long-term focus - were replaced by pump-and-dump management styles. What can we do to hit the target next quarter regardless of the long term consequences? After all, we just want to pump this baby up and sell it off.

Google offers no guidance on its stock for investors. They definitely saw this coming. Some called Google arrogant. I say they’re in it for the long haul.

Once people gave up on the idea of greatness for business, work changed. Now most people are working out of necessity, not desire. Few companies provide good working environments, because employees have come to be viewed as expenses, not assets.

The irony of a job, is that although you get a job because you need money to obtain basic necessities, you should get a job because you absolutely love that job (you’re passionate and genuinely interested with what you do at work), and not because you just need to pay off your car loan, cell phone bills, etc.

A simple test is to ask if you view your job as a burden that you just need to get it over with (because of your bills) or do you look forward to Monday mornings to tackle that next milestone. I strongly believe that if you constantly strive to be better at what you are passionate about, the money will follow. (I know, that sounds similar to Google’s “build it first, figure out how to monetize later”, but I promise I didn’t copy).

Business is like a game, and like any other game, I hate to see people cheat. Nothing is more exciting than the ongoing battle for profit between two companies that are waging market wars using real tactics like innovation, productivity increases, better marketing, sounder strategy, solid business models, and flawless execution. It’s much more exciting than watching them win by lobbying the government for protection from competitors or pushing money around financial statements until it looks good.

It’s a shame that most businesses don’t compete the true capitalistic way. Even Google is guilty of that. The law provides too many ways for businesses to *cough* exploit *cough*, just to get ahead.

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Many of you have a three-day weekend coming up. I’d like to suggest that, in addition to relaxing and enjoying the holiday, you talk to someone about your goals and progress. This can be just a casual conversation with a friend. The point is to verbalize the process and make it real. You never know what kind of encouragement, tips, or leads this person can give you. Open up to the world, and let them help you on your path.

Filed under: Accelerants
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What do your business partners and customers think of you? What do you think they would say about you if you weren’t listening? However they perceive you, keep in mind that you have the power to improve their impressions. It’s true that reputation is a powerful tool that can help or harm you, and people don’t often forget your work habits, whether good or bad. But I believe that people can also be remarkably forgiving. If you have made mistakes in your career, don’t give up on achieving a high level of excellence.

Maybe you’re habitually ten minutes late, and you know it irks your boss. Maybe she’s even talked to you about it. The solution is simple. Do whatever you need to do to remedy the problem—get more rest so you can get up on time, leave the house 15 minutes earlier, or prepare your lunch the night before. Get into the habit of arriving on time, or even a few minutes early, every day. After you’ve done this consistently and dependably for some time, your business partners will revise their opinion of you on this matter.

If you are known for being steady and not rocking the boat, but you wish to demonstrate your proactive and innovative side, nothing is stopping you from reinventing yourself in the eyes of your coworkers and supervisor. People tend to box themselves in, based on their idea of the expectations of others. If you established a reputation for your good points, that’s great. All you need to do in those areas is keep doing a great job and keep renewing your skills. If you have not found opportunities to demonstrate strengths, such as creativity, resourcefulness, or persuasiveness, let them out as soon as you get the chance. Nothing is holding you back from showing people new facets of yourself. In fact, successful people continually surprise others will their myriad abilities.

No matter where you’re coming from or what lies in your past, today is a new day, and change is always possible. The future is unwritten, and you are the author of yours.

Filed under: Personal Branding
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Hope is a great tool for staying optimistic and positive, but achieving your goals requires action. Some people have ten different dreams that they ponder at length while they trudge unhappily through their day job: “I wish I had a great job like my friend Mark has”, “I wish I didn’t have to work with a bunch of people with bad attitudes”, “I wish my job were more fun.” Narrow your focus down to what you want most of all, and take steps to make it happen. Doing so is more satisfying and beneficial to you than years of dreaming about things you take no steps to realize. Working toward your goals is exciting, and it infuses you with new life. When you’re working for what you care about with purpose and determination, you won’t have time to feel bad about what you don’t have.

Filed under: Career Intensity Challenge
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Who hears about your goals and progress? Do you talk about these things with your friends, partner, coworker, family? I encourage you, no matter how far along you are in your career journey, to find trusted personal and professional contacts with whom to discuss your aims and achievements. Some people find writing in a journal or posting inspirational notes to themselves helpful. That’s a great idea, and I’m all for it. But I would like to remind you to extend your circle of support to as many other people as possible.

Verbalizing your goals makes them all the more real, enriches and deepens the experience, and makes you more accountable. Let’s say you tell your friends that you’re determined to find a great job in a new field sometime in the next three months. Not only are they going to ask you about your progress and motivate you to work at it, they’ll probably also have some leads or contacts for you to pursue. You don’t need to do it all on your own. If you go that route, it’s much easier to give up when things are tough. With supporters all around you, you get new ideas, new inspiration, and new encouragement all the time.

How do you find these people? Your partner and friends are the easiest options. If you don’t normally talk to them about your career aspirations, give it a try. You’ll quickly discover which ones are open to the topic, and it’s likely that most of them are. Next, look to your colleagues and acquaintances in your field. It could be that they’ve been through a similar process before, or they have similar goals. Opportunities have at times arisen for me in the strangest and least obvious of circumstances. Open up your circle of influence and support, and you open up your future.

Filed under: Goals
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Do you work with any grumpy people? Most of us do. Getting these complainers to relax and open up is a great exercise you can do to practice your powers of persuasion. Softening up these types requires exactly the same kinds of skills that you need to calm down agitated customers, convince people that you are trustworthy, and bring people around to your way of thinking in any situation. And building stronger relationships is something that can benefit us all. Here are some tips for transforming negative attitudes and persuading people to align with you:

1. Get them talking. Complaining coworkers and critical customers often just want to vent and be heard. If you listen and sympathize, they will see you as a friendly advocate. Ask questions about what’s wrong and what could be done to fix the problem. You might think you need to deliver your pitch to change someone’s point of view, but it’s actually more important to listen to their arguments and work with them in subtle ways.

2. Compliment them. Disgruntled folks often feel unappreciated or unrecognized. Tell them what you like about them and what makes them unique. Of course, you don’t want this to come off as insincere, so focus on the qualities that you truly admire in this person. He feels misunderstood by the whole world, but you get him. That’s priceless.

3. Help resolve their problems. If you can fix the problem, by all means, do it. If it’s out of your hands, help come up with ideas on how to resolve it through other means. We’re all looking for people to help us solve our problems, and when we find people who can do it well, we hang on tight. Prove yourself to people, and they will want you by their side.

Filed under: Accelerants
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“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” –Alan Cohen

So many people remain frozen in jobs that do not fulfill them because they fear losing their security. The truth is that the only security you will ever have is confidence in your talents, skills, and knowledge. In today’s hire-and-fire world, the only people who are truly secure are those who love what they do and are motivated to learn, grow, renew themselves, and create value consistently. Building personal equity that is portable and permanent is the wisest thing you can do to secure your future.

Many people are afraid of change and fear the unknown. We often tend to imagine the worst case scenario, and dwell upon what we might lose, rather than what we might gain. This is natural, but what you need to keep in mind is that no one rose to great success by staying the same. No one got a great job without venturing out and trying something new. We don’t meet a partner, get new customers, make friends, or have new experiences without being open to change. Realize that the world lies before you, open to any possibilities you care to explore. Taking the steps to make great things happen is up to you.

Filed under: Career Limiting Behavior
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On your path to Career Intensity, derive your inspiration from your heart and mind. Your heart will guide you in finding your passion, while your mind will guide you in making wise decisions. Extend your focus on heart and mind to your customer as well. Show him rationally what value you can offer, and persuade him emotionally that working with you is a pleasant endeavor that adds meaning to his life. If you can strike a healthy balance between the emotional and rational aspects of your life and career, you will be well on your way to great success.

Filed under: Career Intensity Challenge
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Who is the judge of your success? How do you know when you’re on the right track? While it’s certainly wise to pay close attention to the feedback you’re getting from your customers, business partners, and friends, you must be the real and final judge of your success. No one but you knows precisely what you want and how you plan to get it. A superachiever is often celebrated, but she commonly goes through periods during which she herself is her sole supporter. This is why it’s so important to pursue your passions and believe in your goals. You must believe in yourself, come what may.

Filed under: Individual Economy
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I am a big fan of research—of your field, your competition, your market, or anything else in which you wish to educate yourself. Through conducting research, in addition to obtaining critical information, you can also gain:

• Critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills
• Clarity in your goals and interests
• Exposure to new methods and fields you may not have considered

Research is another form of preparation, one that so few people do, or do thoroughly. Knowing your field well is a huge advantage. Not only does it provide all the benefits listed above, it can earn you a lot of clout with customers and supervisors who see that you have invested the time and energy into being well-rounded and well-informed.

Filed under: Personal Strategic Planning
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How much of your time do you spend working on your goals? Superachievers spend as much as 100% of their time on theirs. This is because the people who accomplish the most are usually those whose goals are in line with their passions, so it’s natural for them to devote all their energy to them. If you are not spending much time on your goals, ask yourself if those are the right goals, if that’s really what you want.

Once you’ve determined that you are pointed in the right direction, take an honest look at where your time goes. Is there anything that adds little value to your life that you could cut down on? People talk about how there aren’t enough hours in the day. We all get the same number, however. The difference from one person to another is how they use their time. Time is arguably the most precious commodity we have. Get into the habit of managing yours well.

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Are you in touch with your instincts? Do you follow your gut, or do you think every decision through before you act? While I certainly advocate strategic planning, I also encourage you to pay attention to your instincts and use them to guide you in making decisions as well. Most people are at least reasonably intuitive. We can usually get a good feel for whether we will enjoy working for a company, just from the interview. Most of the time, we can quickly tell if we’re going to get along well with someone we have just met. So many nonverbal and intangible details come to bear in these situations.

What good does this do you? First of all, it helps you get more in tune with your emotional drives and learn to put those into practice in a workable way. People operating at least partially on instinct are generally more in touch with their passions and are striving for goals that have meaning to them. On the other hand, those who are following a path someone else has prescribed for them usually ignore their instincts. Personally, I try to pay attention to my instincts and use them to guide me in planning for my future. Striking a good balance between the emotional and the rational usually leads you where you want to go.

Filed under: Self Awareness
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Joe had his first interview for the new position last week, and it was a great success. He admitted he was nervous about it, but he told me his strategy for dealing with that was to focus on his skills and qualifications. He has two more interviews this week, with his potential manager and the director of the department. I asked him what his goals for the coming week are. He told me he intended to:

1. Ace both interviews. He tells me he spent some time this weekend reviewing possible interview questions and practicing. He’s also picked out a professional outfit that makes him feel more confident.

2. Negotiate good pay. Joe has already decided to ask for a certain percentage more than he is offered. The worst they’ll say is no, and it never hurts to ask.

3. Get the job. Joe feels that this promotion is part of his career destiny. His first interviewer told him that some people have been in Joe’s position for many years, and they are content to remain there doing the same work each day. He noted that Joe is clearly more ambitious than that and is driven to take it to the next level.

4. Build good will. Joe is known for working very well with others. He’s a valuable asset to everyone because while he pursues his own goals, he creates value for the company and his business partners as well. He wants to support his current colleagues during the transition, as well as dive into the new challenges with enthusiasm.

Joe is so successful because he knows what he wants and he plans the actions he will take to get there. What is your plan of attack for the week?

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Do you want to run your own business? Manage your department? Retire at 45? Whatever your dream is, you should start acting as if you have already achieved it. Doing so will quicken your progress and allow you to grow naturally into the role.

Let’s say you, a current Workplace Warrior generating little individual value, want to manage your department. How will acting as if you have already achieved that level help you actually attain it? Your manager is expected to identify problem spots in the department and company and propose and implement solutions. You can certainly do that as well. Once you start, you will also begin to develop confidence, demonstrate problem-solving and leadership skills, and steer yourself in the direction of increased responsibility and promotions.

If you want to run your own business eventually, start doing what every business owner does: promote yourself, sell your services, and demonstrate the value and personal brand you wish to convey. Through this process, you will begin learning how to be your own best advocate and make independent and bold decisions.

Whatever you want to do, imagining yourself in the role and behaving as if you have achieved that level of success will help you get there. Lifestyle and daily choices impact your progress tremendously, and placing yourself into that lifestyle is an excellent way of making it a reality.

Filed under: Self Awareness
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Successful people prepare as much as possible for the future—for the coming interaction, meeting, day, month, year, and decade. Preparing in advance increases confidence, and helps even less experienced people operate from a position of strength. People who are prepared for anything carry less stress and worry and feel more secure. They know they are equipped to make good decisions, and they can relax in the knowledge that even in the worst case scenario, they always have something to fall back on.

You can prepare for your next interaction or meeting by:

• Knowing in advance what your objective is
• Doing research and formulating a framework for acceptable and unacceptable topics of discussion and themes
• Evaluating all possible outcomes and options for the next step and deciding what you will do in each situation

You can prepare for each day by:

• Getting good rest and taking care of your health so you have good energy
• Writing down several action items that will lead you to your goal
• Organizing your tasks into levels of priority

You can prepare for the coming week by:

• Writing down your main objective for the week
• Tackling major tasks first, and building momentum for the rest of your work
• Making a commitment to do something each day to move toward your goal

You can prepare for the rest of your life by:

• Discovering and embracing your passion
• Defining major, overarching goals
• Working persistently toward those goals
• Making a habit of out preparing for whatever the future may bring

Filed under: Personal Strategic Planning
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This weekend we are exhibiting Career Intensity at Book Expo America.  BEA is the largest book industry event in the world.

I have to extend special thanks to Phil Gerbyshak from Make It Great.  He did an outstanding job of getting people to our booth to check out Career Intensity. 

Ron McDaniel of Buzzoodle was also in attendance and helped enormously.  He was actively marketing Career Intensity and driving people to the booth.  He even volunteered to wear a giant Career Intensity Book – maybe next time.

The star of the show was Ron’s daughter Alexandra.  She is a tremendous salesperson (and she’s only eight years old)!  Alexandra was tasked with asking people to come to my line at the autographing session.  BEA has big name authors autographing constantly – so the competition is huge.  After all, people can only carry so many books home in their suitcases.

Thanks to Alexandra, my line was constantly busy.  In one hour I signed over 200 books! 

I am extremely grateful to Phil, Ron and Alexandra for their help and support at this important event.  We wrap the show up today and I’ll report out in the final totals tomorrow. 

Filed under: Career Intensity - The Book
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Thanks to everyone who submitted blog posts for this week’s carnival. 

Although I put up the entire posts of the five bloggers I selected for the carnival this week, I encourage you to visit their blogs and scroll through their archives.   Click the links below to check them out.

Click Here for David Maister

Click Here for Scott H. Young.

Click Here for The Blogging Boss

Click Here for Emmanuel Oluwatosin

Click Here for Free Money Finance

Each of the authors of the posts selected will receive a signed copy of Career Intensity.

You can catch the Carnival of Career Intensity here each and every Saturday.  Here is a refresher about how it works:

Each week I pick five posts I think best demonstrate Career Intensity from the submissions I receive.  I am looking for posts that add value to careers of my readers.  Preference will be given to posts that are funny and in some way stroke my ego. I am aware that this criterion is totally subjective and unfair.  Please don’t e-mail me to complain.  Complaints will only serve to make me angry – which will decrease your chances of winning.

The carnival opens on Saturday at 9 AM (Eastern Time) with Post Number Five that week. Post Number Four goes up at 11AM.  Post Number Three goes up at 1PM.  Post number Two goes up at 3PM. And the big winner for that week goes up at 5PM.  I will run each post in its entirety and provide a link to the contributing blog. 

Each author of the five posts selected for display will receive a signed copy of my book Career Intensity:  Business Strategy for Workplace Warriors and Entrepreneurs.   I will e-mail the winners and ask for their addresses.  Please do not include them with your posts. 

Admission to the Carnival of Career Intensity is on a rolling basis. If your post does not make it this week, don’t despair, I might use it next week. Submit posts around the clock by e-mailing:  carnival@careerintensity.com

You can also enter by filling in the form at http://blogcarnival.com

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Congratulations to David Maister (one of my personal idols) on this week’s Carnival Post Number One.

Title:     Are You Being Mentored?

Link:     Click Here to see the post on David’s Blog.

The Post:

The concept of being mentored sounds like something that happens to you when you’re young and on the way up. The truth, however, is that, at any age or stage, we all need a loving critic, a friendly skeptic, a coach, a mentor to help us make sense of the world.

Do you currently have someone who:

a. Is reliably, dependably on your side but is not afraid to critique you?
b. You can rely on to tell you the truth - gently, but nevertheless the truth?
c. Helps you understand how you are perceived, inside your organization and in the marketplace?
d. Helps you extract the right lessons from your disappointments and failures?
e. Keep you from getting carried way with too much enthusiasm about your successes?
f. Watches you and lets you know when you are failing to keep things in balance?
g. Acts as your sounding board for your new ideas before you launch them, so that you can refine them (and sometimes abandon the crazier ones?)
h. Suggests new things for you to consider?
i. Helps you see things from fresh perspectives, and helps you think things through, without substituting their judgment for yours?
j. Helps you understand the politics of the organization you are in or have to work with?

(Regular readers will notice the overlap between this list and material in my book THE TRUSTED ADVISOR.)

We all need to keep our eyes and ears open at all times for people who might serve one or more of these roles for us. It’s not true that we only need one mentor, or that one person can do everything on the list above.

If you don’t currently have people who play these roles for you, then you have work to do. Go make a mentor or two (or three or four.)

Some people look for a mentor who will be their champion, helping them get the best opportunities, supporting their cause and smoothing their way up the ladder. However, such relationships are rare. They are usually the eventual outcome of a long-term relationship, not its starting point.

The best way to think of a mentor is as someone who will be your confidante and guide. Someone you can go to in order to try out ideas, get feedback and advice. The mentor is thus your coach, not your champion. He or she doesn’t create your success for you, but helps you create your own success.

Finding, creating and sustaining a mentor is just like any other relationship: you get out of it what you put into it, and you cannot wait for the other person to seek you out. You have to work actively to develop and refresh your network of mentors.

Mentors do not have to be your superiors at work. In my case, former clients have been invaluable as people I can talk about my work with. Even though our time together began with me advising them, they are often delighted to “reverse” the relationship and help me. If you let your clients get to know you as a person, and the things you face in your career, many will respond with friendship.

Other sources of mentors can be colleagues with whom you have previously worked. (I owe a significant debt of gratitude to Charlie Green and Patrick McKenna, previous co-authors, who, to this day, still take the time to preview my writing and make suggestions. I try to do the same for them.)

As always, you build a relationship by earning it with small gestures of goodwill- finding ways to be helpful to the other person above and beyond the call of duty. Show an interest in them, without rushing to get what you want out of the relationship. Start small. Don’t expect a caring relationship to occur immediately upon your initial interaction with someone. Try to be useful to them even in a small way, whether it is helping on an internal project, providing work to a new client, or exploring a mutual interest.

Get to know your possible mentor, then begin slowly asking for their advice. Don’t expect them to spend an hour with you after a one-month project. However, they would probably gladly spend 15 minutes talking with you about their experience, or giving their advice on a career issue you are facing. The key is to make it easy for them to help you.

So, here’s your action list for today.

First, reflect on what aspects of being mentored (using the list above as a starting guide) you could usefully use more input and guidance.

Second, reflect on who you have met recently (or deal with regularly) who might be in a position to help you get better.

Third, start to build a relationship with those people (it’s almost certainly more than one person) earning their goodwill and trust by finding a way to be helpful to them.

(By the way - a message for top executives and corporate readers - all this applies to organizations, too. How well mentored do you think your firm is? What could you do about that?)

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Scott H. Young comes in with post number two in this week’s carnival.

Title:     Decide Who You Want to Be

Link:     Click Here to Read Scott’s Post on his Blog.

The Post:

What are the goals you have set for yourself? (You do set goals don’t you?) The goals you’ve set might be things like owning a house, having a certain income or getting into a certain position with your career. Your goals might be focused on your relationships, your health or your contribution. You have made decisions about exactly what you want to have in your life.

If you are setting clear objective goals with deadlines then you already know the role clarity plays in getting the results you want. As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going you might not get there.” Deciding what you want is critically important to achieving anything. Most people don’t even do that and end up becoming as Zig Ziglar says, “wandering generalities instead of meaningful specifics.”

More Important Than Goals

There is a decision you need to make that is more important than the goals you set for defining what you want to have in your life. These are the decisions you make for defining who you want to be. Who you are will decide your life far more than the environment you try to create around you. Of the few that set clear goals for there life, few of them really ask the question, “Who do I want to be?”

Deciding who you want to be transcends the personal goals you set for yourself. Setting a goal to improve your fitness or wealth is just another “to have” goal instead of a “to be” goal. Making this decision doesn’t have anything to do with goals at all. The question of who you want to be ultimately reflects your attitudes and beliefs about life itself.

The decision of who you want to be will make a far bigger impact on your goals, your success and your happiness than anything else. In my research of what makes people happy and successful the same answer kept coming up, it doesn’t matter what you have but what you are. Success comes to successful people. Seems painfully obvious, but it makes a lot more sense than some of the ignorant assumptions that success comes from resources, education or support. Who you are manifests your world more than any other factor.

I used to feel that who you were was a constant. I used to subscribe to the notion that setting a “to be” goal was ridiculous because my genetics and parental upbringing made that decision for me. Instead, I felt, the best you could do was to expect results within the framework this decision had set for you. As a fairly shy and introverted kid I felt that was just a character trait that I would just shape my life around.

Finally I realized that this whole concept was complete garbage. I was the one who decided who I became in my life. Nobody else. I’m not going to listen to some questionnaire, government study or friends and family who try to tell me who I am and who I am going to be. Seeing as I just finished my second Toastmasters speech and I took home Toastmaster of the Evening award, I think I have plenty of evidence to say that we have control over this decision.

Visualize it Clearly

Every day I visualize clearly about the person I want to be. I make this visualization vivid and precise. How does this person talk? How does this person dress? How does this person solve problems? How does it feel to be this person? Ask yourself these questions as you visualize your ideal self. Think hard about whether you are congruent with who you want to be.

I received a comment recently saying that I was very enthusiastic speaker. This isn’t an accident. When I imagine my ideal self I see myself as being extremely enthusiastic, energetic and overjoyed. I visualized that result clearly and made a conscious effort to behave and act in a way that is congruent with that image. Who I am today isn’t an accident, by luck or even largely by genetics. Who I am today is the result of decision.

Notice the little things about your ideal self in your vision. Often these little things will give you clues for uprooting and changing behaviors and thought processes that are incongruent with your ideal self. If you see yourself as being someone who puts great value on their health and you eat a lot of junk food, you are putting distance between who you are and who you want to be. Take control of that habit and put it into congruency with who you want to be.

Being is Not About Setting Goals

Who you want to be isn’t a goal. You are whoever you decide to be. Goals are set because external things take time to manifest. Deciding who you are committed to being in your life does not. The moment you decide that you are going to be a happy, enthusiastic, passionate person, you become one. Simply make sure that all of your actions are congruent with this new image and you will move towards the life that this person lives.

The idea of deciding who you want to be might sound scary to some people. We have been conditioned to believe in our society that we can change the reality around us, but changing our inner being, now that’s impossible. This is ridiculous. I am going to make the assertion that you will be unable to make any change in your surrounding until you decide to become the person who can make that change.

When I visualize my ideal self I see many things. I see someone who is extroverted, confident and courageous. I see someone who is empathetic, thoughtful and wise. I see someone who is enthusiastic, passionate and overfilled with happiness. I see someone who has the maturity to take control and take action. I see someone who has the sense of humor to see the world as a place filled with incredible fun, enjoyment and adventure not just sacrifice and drudgery. I see myself as someone who does his best to contribute and tries to pursue options that help others while simultaneously helping himself. Finally, I see someone who is devoted to constantly and expanding his very existence of life.

That visualization is specific, clear and compelling to me. I am that person.

Goals like having the perfect body, getting the right habits or earning a certain income take time to manifest. I’m not rich and it will likely take a fair bit of time before I achieve all the knowledge and skills to become rich. I don’t always have perfect communication skills and I still have fears that relate to social situations. Those things are external and expecting them to manifest instantly is both foolhardy and ignorant. But our decisions about who we are manifest in a moment.

Reinforce With Environment

What happens when we don’t have a clear vision of who we decide we want to be. In these cases we become like the masses, shaped and molded by our genetics, environment or both. We become our defaults and life becomes a game of luck and circumstance. As a result we become trapped in the position that was dictated to us by fate or chance.

Even a clear and compelling vision of who you want to be has to resist against the strains of your environment. If you see yourself as optimistic and enthusiastic and you are surrounded by friends who are depressing and nihilistic, being who you want to be will involve a lot of difficulty. If you see yourself as being organized and precise and you are surrounded by mess and confusion, your environment will strain against the vision you’ve set for yourself.

Don’t allow these incongruencies to exist. Start shaping your environment to reflect the image you see for yourself. By having your environment reinforce your identity, being who you want is far easier.

Start with the tangibles of your environment. What does your house look like? How is your appearance and the clothes you wear? If they don’t reinforce the identity you want, change them. If you want to be a person who is healthy and fit, don’t fill the refrigerator with junk food. If you want to be a person who is successful in their career and motivated to achieve, do you have a clean and efficient workspace?

Once you’ve made changes to your environment, make changes to relationships and organizations. If your friends don’t reinforce the person you want to be, get some new friends. Loyalty to someone who is going to keep you living below what you truly desire is false. At the very least, shift your time to spend more of it with people you feel accurately represent your image. Make sure that your efforts to decide who you want to be aren’t in conflict with your environment.

I want you to think really clearly about who you want to be. Make your visualization compelling, meaningful and specific. Most of all, make your image so inspiring that you will drive towards it every day. Ask this question, because you will become whatever your answer is to it.

Who are you?

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The Blogging Boss has post number three this week.

Title:     How Do You Deal with a Micromanager?

Link:     Click Here to read the post at the Blogging Boss

The Post:

What can you do if you discover that your boss is a micromanager? Working with a micromanager is generally a losing proposition. You may feel you can learn to live with the tyranny, but there are consequences.

First, decide if you want to continue to work for this person. If you can find another job you like with a different manager within the company, your answer should probably be “no.” If your answer is “yes” then you must make changes. You must respect your abilities and talent enough to ensure that you are being fully utilized. If you do not respect yourself, you will be miserable. The onus is on you ultimately.

If you have decided to continue to work under the microscope and have no other immediate alternatives you must make a promise to yourself. You must commit to “managing up.” If you do not know what that means, I have written several posts that will explain what it is and how to do it effectively. You must commit to working through the issues appropriately with your boss. I really emphasize appropriately. Inappropriate behavior on your part will and should get you fired.

Rule #1- Stay emotionally neutral in all discussions with your boss. Do not raise your voice. Even if you are ready to scream, keep it inside. An emotional outburst on your part will give a micromanager all he needs to continue controlling everything you do.

Rule #2 - Ask if you can be direct with your boss. You should ask permission to be “frank.” Why? Many micromanagers are not mature enough to have a direct conversation. So if the conversation goes south, you can always remind your boss that you asked if you could be direct.

Rule #3 - Give concrete examples where you “feel” you have been treated inappropriately. This is the hardest part, but the most important. You should prepare for this part of the discussion very diligently. The examples must be recent. They should be the best examples you can think of where the micromanager cannot refute what actually happened. If it is totally fact based the only way a micromanager can deny what you are saying is by manipulating truth. That is another whole issue.

Rule #4 - Your goal should be to change one behavior. That’s right, just one at a time. That is all your micromanaging boss can probably handle. This will be an incremental process, so get ready for a commitment. An example would be for you to get your micromanager to let you be responsible for one task completely without his approval. Focus on things that you do that you know should be your responsibility completely. Your boss should not have to put a stamp of approval on it. Even sell the idea as removing something off his already unmanageable schedule.

Rule # 5 - If you are not getting anywhere with your boss during this process you must decide to escalate this up to the next level. But remember, micromanagers tend to hire micromanagers, so assess your boss’s boss. Even if he is a micromanager you still must give that manager the opportunity to address your concerns. This is critical. It is only fair that you treat your managers as you want to be treated. Even if you do not think it is fair or necessary. Trust me on this.

Rule # 6 - If the management team does not address this issue, your next step is Human Resources (if you have an HR department).

If all goes sour and you have no HR, start dusting off that resume and pounding the pavements. You do not belong there.

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This week’s post number four comes from Emmanuel Oluwatosin’s blog.

Title:     Take Charge

Link:     Click Here to read Emmanuel’s post on his blog.

The Post:

Remember the children’s story of “The Little Red Hen?” The Hen found a grain of wheat (opportunity) and decided to make bread (success). She then proceeded to take the proper steps to plan and prepare for her desired result. She planted the grain, tended, watered, and harvested it. This is nothing but action on display. She took the wheat to the mill to be ground into flour. She made the dough, let it rise, and, finally, put it in the oven to bake.

At each step in the process, she asked her neighbours, “Who would like to help me . . . ?” And each time they responded, “Not I!” Finally, the bread was ready. She set it on the window sill to cool and its sweet scent floated up and down the street. “And now,” she said, “who will help me eat the bread?” All her neighbors responded enthusiastically, “I will!” “No,” said the little red hen, “I will eat it myself.” And she did.

I used to think that the hen was rather harsh in not sharing the bread with her friends. But I have since found out that, in reality, no one can give you success. So many a times, we depend on some other people (our parents, the uncle who is the Managing Director of a company, our aunties who have been in overseas since we were in Primary School, friends among other) to be successful. We have conditioned our mind to always be at the mercy of others. We want people to decide on a destination, design the map to the destination and probably set the ladder for us to the destination. We only want to join them at the destination. We do not want to do anything. We want to enjoy the good things of life without giving anything in return. We only want to find ourselves successful with no concrete action steps from our side.

No one can do the preparation, planning, and the work for you. If we are to achieve true excellence, we must take responsibility for our own success and do the work to make it happen. We must dream our dreams, believe in the dream, make the plans, and act the plans. Nobody can help you to do this. Everybody has got to create the kind of future he or she desires. Your parents, pastor, relatives or even friends can only help you on the way. They can not do everything for you. So, decide today to take responsibility for your action. Stop blaming people for what happens to you. Remember, “You are not a failure until you start blaming people for what happens to you”. DREAM, PLAN, PREPARE, PERFORM, PERSIST… then, the sky will be just the beginning.

Filed under: Carnival
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Free Money Finance gets our carnival started this week with post number five.

Title:     Five Steps to Negotiating a Raise

Link:     Click Here to read the post on the Free Money Finance Blog.

The Post:

Your career is your most valuable financial asset and managing it correctly can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime. One way to actively manage it is to ask for a raise throughout your career — when it’s appropriate. I’ve written on this topic previously in these posts:

• When to Ask for a Raise

• 5 Steps to Getting that Raise

• Want a Pay Raise Next Year? Start at It Now

• Comments: 5 Steps to Getting that Raise; Inequity

Here’s a piece from Kiplinger’s that has some great thoughts on this subject at the end of the article where it lists five steps to negotiating a raise. Their thoughts:

1. Make a specific list of your accomplishments.

2. Find out how your salary compares.

3. Consider negotiating benefits and perks, such as vacation time, flexible work hours, stock options or tuition reimbursement.

4. Time your pitch right.

5. Broach the topic professionally.

As a manager of people, I can tell you that extra money can almost always be found for people who are great performers and are earning at or below average wages. As long as the person approaches their boss with the right tone, this sort of request almost always gets some sort of results (maybe not what you wanted, but it will get you more than you would have gotten otherwise).

Now if you’re an average performer or worse, you don’t have much basis to ask for a raise — even if you’re below average in pay. In those cases, I’d suggest you work on increasing your value to the company, then approach your boss for a raise.

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Sometimes, no matter how hard we work to generate and demonstrate value, our employers either do not appreciate what we offer or do not reward us for it. If you are working for a company that does not acknowledge your contributions, facilitate or encourage promotions, or negotiate fair pay increases and benefits, you should probably move on.

One of the most significant challenges employers face right now is finding great talent. The best companies compete for top talent and reward their employees generously for sticking with them. Just as you shouldn’t settle for friends who don’t appreciate you and add value to your life, or a romantic partner who doesn’t respect and honor your needs, you should not settle for an employer who doesn’t value your work and reciprocate your efforts and investment.

You have a lot to offer, and you can find a great employer who will appreciate and reward you for your talents and contributions. Why waste time in a business relationship that doesn’t challenge and inspire you to grow when you could be creating enormous value and enjoying the benefits?

Filed under: Individual Economy
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How well do people remember you? If your answer is “not very well”, how can you get them to remember you better? Generating buzz and getting people excited about you really comes down to attitude and the way you present yourself. I have observed people’s behavior at business meetings and conferences and noticed that while some people make an effort to socialize, ask questions, contribute stories, and get involved, others wait for things to happen to them. They sit quietly, only venturing into conversations with people they believe have a lot in common with them. If you find yourself feeling like a wallflower whose name nobody knows, here are a few ideas that will help you extend yourself and stamp your personal brand:

1. Start talking. It doesn’t much matter what you talk about, especially at first. Even the most obvious lines will work: Have you been here before? Where are you from? How do you like this weather? These are just the starting points. From here, you can move into more compelling topics and show the person what makes you special. I have been surprised at times to discover that people remembered the smallest of details about me. We’re all looking for new people and experiences to capture our interest. You can be that person. All you have to do is get involved and make an impression

2. Ask and tell. Try to strike a good balance between asking questions and telling your own stories. A good conversation goes both ways. If the other person only talks about herself, she’s not going to get a strong sense of who you are. If all she does is listen, she won’t feel that she has shared anything—and letting someone else in on the facts of your life is what builds trust most of all. This is where the connection happens. What about her intrigues you? Delve into those topics, and find areas of overlap. Hopefully, she’ll do the same thing and you’ll have a chance to talk about what you love.

3. Name names. Ask the other person’s name, and use it during the conversation. Give your name, and make sure she gets it. Getting her name is a good idea for a few reasons: first, it shows that you’re invested and you care; second, using her name makes her feel more connected to you. Giving your name is one small way to help get her to remember you. People who are shy tend not to do this, but it’s essential.

Filed under: Personal Buzz
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