Smart Lemming Action Items: Becoming a Happier Person, Improving Your Skills, and Branding Icon Michael Jackson
Submitted by Lori Grant on July 3, 2009 – 9:03 amNo Comment
10 Ways to Actively Manage Your Career Now
- All the Advice on Happiness You’ll Ever Need in One Post: Mr. Zen, Leo Baubuta, has compiled his favorite articles on happiness. Everyone knows that happiness is a warm puppy. Why read about happiness as part of your career management plan? Because being an unhappy person leads to an unhappy and disgruntled worker. Even the best of us, who can compartmentalize our work and personal lives, let our happiness or unhappiness in one, bleed into the other.
- When Money DOES Buy Happiness: J.D. at GetRichSlowly.org discusses his views on a new informal survey that discusses the connection between money and happiness. Apparently, there is overlap between expensive things and happiness. I see it as a double-edged sword. The expensive things do make you happy, but there’s more than can go wrong, costing more to fix or manage. This week for me, happiness are trimmed trees, so they don’t overtake the house; reconnecting the hot tub with a dedicated electrical circuit because the old spa died; and having satellite internet installed because existing phone lines can’t support 5.0 Mbps service. All annoyingly expensive stuff that makes me happy.
- Staying Motivated When the Perks Disappear: “Ask yourself, ‘What does my work offer that I can feel happy about?’ ” says J. William Townsend, an independent executive consultant in Memphis. See a theme? Happiness is also a get to staying motivated when the perks at work go away.
- Finding Anchors in the Storm: Mentors: no longer able to easily move from job to job, workers have to stay longer in their existing job. “Finding that they can’t move as easily from job to job, these young professionals will have to adjust to the new reality of working in one place for the long haul. To do so, they have to find ways to connect with senior managers in a less-needy way and actively seek out mentors.”
- Beyond Job Boards: Targeting the Source: companies increasingly seek new hires through their own Web sites, job hunters should consider new strategies. Joseph de Avila offers four new approaches to finding a new job.
- The Key to Shorter, Better Meetings: for career newbies, learning meeting management can be an embarrassing process. It’s not like they teach you how to run a meeting or how to conduct yourself in a meeting in school. We learn on the job or through self-study. Anthony Tjan on his blog, Upstarts and Titans at HarvardBusiness.org, offers three simple ways to look at meetings. For advanced, intermediate, or master level knowledge workers, Tjan’s post is a great refresher on improving your meeting management skills.
- The 10 Questions Every Change Agent Must Answer: I always look for the white spaces in my work. That’s how I stay challenged. I loath routine, so I’m always on the hunt for opportunities that will keep me challenged. As a lifelong change agent, I probably annoyed my bosses or employers that wasn’t that interested in change. Being an effective change agent requires asking and answering the right questions. Check out Bill Taylor’s post at his blog, Practically Radical at HarvardBusiness.org.
- Task Index Cards Revisited: productivity is a key to success. The road to productivity is a trial and error process. I’ve gone through countless systems, ranging from Franklin Planners to ToodleDo.com. While my systems have changed, one thing has not in my key to productivity. It’s the use of note cards. Check out David Seah’s post on note cards. He’s rethinking the card in innovative ways. Seah also designs productivity tools, constantly creating new ones, based on his own needs. If you’re looking for a new productivity system, then check out his numerous downloads Emergent Task and Printable CEO series.
- How Michael Jackson Became a Brand Icon: while you may not want to become like the Michael Jackson brand, you can learn ten tips on how to manage your brand, based on Jackson’s enormous success. As for tip number ten, you may want to delay that one until you’re ready to move on.
- Reviews in a Recession: giving staff feedback during tough times. Midyear review season is upon us. Here’s how to get the most out of an evaluation, even in a slump.
