You would think in this world of constant communication, we would all be excellent communicators. Surely, you must get better at something you do all day, every day. As you know, though, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are those among us who actually communicate worse, due to their constant engagement. Instead of communicating WITH people they end up shouting AT people. If you want a successful career, though, you must cultivate high-quality communication in everything you do. You must say what you mean, mean what you say and do it in such a way that others can easily understand you. Miscommunication leads to and exacerbates so many other issues in the work environment. These associated problems could easily be avoided if we all took some time and care with our communication.
Life and career are intimately intertwined. We can try to keep them as separate as possible, but the fact remains that it is an impossible task. Our daily work life directly effects our life outside of work and vice versa. Instead of ignoring this connection, we all need to be aware how each side can cause issues for the other.
Creativity is important regardless of which career you are in today. We all have to come up with creative and applicable solutions to the problems we face on a daily basis. In this article, we learn that drawing, not word, is sometimes the best way of releasing our innate creativity and problem solving skills. — Douglas
What’s the problem with meetings? Yes, many lack purpose and focus–and most go on too long. But there’s another underlying problem: Everybody talks too much.
Human beings simply aren’t wired to sit around all day in a closed room communicating verbally. Sure, way back when we’d gather around the camp fire at night but that was after a vigorous day chasing woolly mammoths or gathering nuts and berries.
So my idea for transforming meetings is very simple: give participants a chance to draw. Before you dismiss this approach, let me explain
It is important to remember that every job, every career, involves some aspect of customer service. In some cases we might be supporting our outside customers while, in others, we are supporting our fellow, in-house, coworkers. Whatever the reason, though, it is often part of our job to help others do theirs. As someone who has made a career out of customer service, I would like to warn you about a frustrating situation that can occur — people who “need” your help but don’t really “want” it. I know that can sound very odd, but I think you will recognize these people in your life and work when I describe them and their behavior. These people can make your work very difficult if you don’t understand how to recognize and deal with them.
Your career doesn’t — and shouldn’t — stand apart from other aspects of your life. Creativity in one area always helps to expand creativity in all area of your life. This article provides 15 great ideas for spurring your creativity in general so it can better be applied to specific aspects of your career — Douglas
We might not have time for big creative projects. But we can usually spare a few minutes per day or per week for a tiny task. Of course, the key is to find something that you enjoy, something that rejuvenates you and inspires you, something you can’t wait to do.
Because connecting to our creativity is a wonderful, important way to care for ourselves.
Last week, in this piece, I shared 15 such tiny projects from the beautiful book Creativity Takes Courage: Dare to Think Differently by Irene Smit and Astrid van der Hulst. Below are 15 more ideas, which I came up with.
When most of us think about organization, we think about calendars, address books and to-do lists, but organization, as it relates to your life and career, is so much more. We all know from personal experience how unorganized people and companies can make our lives much more difficult than it need be – sometimes to the point of chaos. Why would we wish to inflict this on others ourselves? If you want to have a successful career, you must become organized – at least in some basic way. Thankfully, and despite what you might think, it’s relatively easy to be organized. Even more, the slightest bit of organization, will help you to stand out among those who haven’t yet learned that lesson. Organization can be an excellent way to build a very successful career.
The explosion of educational MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) seems to indicate a large, renewed interest in nontraditional educational opportunities. People are looking for new opportunities to learn when and where they can. While there are a tremendous amount of large MOOCs available, and you should be investigating them, this trend has also sparked my own thinking about smaller, self-directed learning opportunities. You don’t always have to rely on someone else to create your learning opportunities, like traditional schools and universities. You, along with a small group of friends, family, or coworkers can create your own time and place to learn together. In some ways, I think that these smaller groups can help you learn more deeply, in a more intimate learning environment, than any MOOC possibly could.
Looking back over my own long career, and the careers of family, friends and Career Opportunities listeners and readers, I have struck upon 7 Skills that can help to insure a successful career for any careerist, regardless of their work industry, their position in a company or their goals as a careerist. These fundamental skills form a solid foundation for any career and, in many ways, also enhance life outside of your career. In this introduction I will give an overview of of the skills and then explore each one further in its own, upcoming, Career Opportunities column.
I am not a big player of video games, but my teenage son has introduced me to a few in the last several years. Even if I don’t play the games themselves, I do often watch videos of the game play to stay informed of the state of the art and also to enjoy the stories. Although video games are often dismissed as time-wasters and corrupters of youth (and adults), I find that there are a number of career lessons that can be gained from them. Like everything in your life — your family, your hobbies, the books you read — video games can yield some interesting lessons if you take the time to think beyond the actual gameplay itself.
It’s pretty safe to say, that when you finally come up with your million-dollar idea, nobody is going to understand it at first. They many not laugh in your face outright, but they’ll probably scratch their heads, at least.
Like I wrote in my first book, Ignore Everybody, great ideas have lonely childhoods. Great ideas also change the power balance in relationships, which is the main reason why people initially resist them. People like the status quo, thank you very much.
And then maybe, just maybe, your million-idea isn’t worth a million dollars. Maybe all it’s worth is years of heartbreak, stress and zero money on your end. What Joseph Campbell describes as the golden chalice turning to ashes, the moment the hero steps out of the dark forest. It happens all the time.
But you press on regardless. Why? Because you have no choice. Because win or lose, you really don’t have a better reason for being alive. That to try for a safer, easier route was not what God had planned for you. And nobody wants to try to prove God wrong.
Now if you can only get those naysayer voices inside your head to shut up…
