Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 3 Productivity Habits to Stop Today

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, Minda Zetlin, author of "The Geek Gap" shares some productivity habits that are actually toxic and need to be dropped. Watch the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Does Dressing for Success Really Work?

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Does Dressing for Success Really Work?: "When I present myself in a way that’s contrary to that image, it throws things off and makes people feel out of place, uncomfortable. Especially me."

• How to Get Over Your Fear of Self-Promotion: "Whether you're a freelancer, a business owner or a serial side hustler, self-promotion is crucial to attracting clients and ultimately, making sales."

• 10 Horrible Habits That Are Draining Your Energy: "The solution is to learn how to say no. The transition is difficult at first, but people will respect you for it. Plus, it will give you significantly more time and power to commit to other things."

• The Right & Wrong Way to Attract Young Workers to a "Boring" Company: "I hear it time and again — How can we compete with Facebook or Google for young engineers? How can we attract digitally savvy marketers against Starbucks or Amazon?"
• 5 Remarkably Powerful Ways to Boost Self-Confidence: "Wouldn't it be amazing to have this kind of self-confidence, every day of the week? Guess what? You can. It comes down to one simple question: If you don't believe in yourself, how do you expect anybody else to?"

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How Do You Handle a Toxic Work Environment?

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, author and speaker Simon Sinek discusses some ways to handle a toxic work environment and encourages viewers to "become the leader you wish you had". He reminds us that "leadership has nothing to do with rank." Watch the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Ask for a Promotion

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Ask for a Promotion: "How do you prepare for that conversation with your boss? What information should you have at the ready? And how exactly do you make your case?"

• 6 Tiny Habits That Will Make You Smarter, Confident, and More Productive: "When you're mentally sharp, you're not only growing and evolving at a faster pace in life, but you're also operating with more confidence."

• How to Make Money as a Stay-at-Home Mom: "While the majority of these ideas require computer and internet access, the majority of these suggestions have low to zero startup costs and require little to no additional schooling."

• 3 Valuable Strategies for Practicing Self-Respect: "A sense of self-worth built by and dependent upon the opinions of other people—conditional self-esteem—is a house of cards, liable to collapse at any moment."
• 9 Must-Watch TED Talks That Will Make You a Better Entrepreneur: "If you’re striving for business and personal success, check out these nine popular TED Talks. They’ll provide you with insights and strategies that can help you become a better entrepreneur."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Build Better Connections at Networking Events

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, from Entrepreneur, Kate Volman, discusses a question she uses at networking events to deepen the conversation. Take a look and learn how to make better use of your networking efforts.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Use Criticism to Your Advantage

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Use Criticism to Your Advantage: "In order to keep a relationship or work team performing well, five or six positive interactions were needed for every one criticism or negative interaction."

• 7 Ways to Stay Connected, Relevant, and Powerful When Working From Home: "What doesn’t get on your calendar doesn’t happen. Many business owners I spoke with were surprised by how much more intentional they had to be about scheduling in connections, breaks, and routines into their workday."

• How to Train Your Team to Have an Entrepreneurial Mindset: "If they don't make their own mistakes, and suffer the pain and embarrassment and anxiety that comes with them, they will never grow like you did. That's why you need to give them room to fail."

• Break Bad Habits With a Simple Checklist: "You can set goals to achieve your dreams or improve your behavior, but without actionable ways to move forward and a way to measure progress, you’ll fall back into your old bad habits once again."
• This 5-Minute Routine Will Save You Hours of Wasted Work: "Stand-ups are a great alternative to email because they're not just quick, they increase engagement between workers."

4 Ways to Show You’re Ready to Become a Manager

In many companies the path to the executive suite leads through a management job, and even if you don’t aspire to become a CEO, moving into a management role can be a great career move, leading to additional opportunities along the way.

If you’re interested in making the leap from regular employee to supervisor or manager consider the following steps to show you’re ready for the move.

Excel in your current work. There is no point in aspiring to a promotion to management if you’re not doing a great job in your current position. It can be easy to rationalize and make excuses: I’d be excellent at my work if only I could get promoted to manager. This position doesn’t suit my strengths. That may be true but you will not get an opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills without first demonstrating excellence along the way, even while performing the most insignificant of tasks. If you wish to become a manager commit yourself to excellence today. 

Oversee a cross-functional team. A good way to demonstrate effective leadership and management skills is to take the initiative and offer to lead a cross-functional team or project. This will provide you with good practice in management, dealing with a diverse range of personalities, and collaborating to see a project through to its conclusion.

Demonstrate good communication skills. Good managers are good at communicating and in order to move into a management position you need to learn how to communicate clearly and effectively: in person, over the phone, and by email. Good communicators are good at listening and really hearing what others say, in order to support them well. You will never be ready more management (or be a good manager) if you haven’t mastered the art of communication and active listening.

Practice serving others. The best leaders and managers are not in it to make a name for themselves or to bring attention to their own efforts. They seek to build up others around them, to develop the strengths of the members of their team, and to support their staff to meet the goals of the team. The best managers are focused on others and look to lead by serving them.

Turn your attention to these areas and your company might just tap you for the next management position that comes available.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Become the Best Version of Yourself

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, from Goalcast, James Lawrence, known as The Iron Cowboy, shares a story of hitting rock bottom and how it triggered the shift he needed to become the best version of himself, giving him the determination to conquer 50 Iron Mans in 50 days.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 6 Ways to Make Better Decisions

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 6 Ways to Make Better Decisions: "The best solutions come by spending more time defining the problem. Clarifying the problem, goal or objective crystalizes the information search."

• 9-5 is Out. Try the 1-6 Instead: "Being committed to the three things I outlined above has shown me, clearly, that my eight-plus hour work days were really just five hour work days dragged out over eight hours."

• 8 Ways to Run Effective Meetings: "We are very clear of what our goal is in the meeting and what our deliverables are coming out of the meeting."

• 4 Habits of People Who are Always Learning New Skills: "But those who persevere generally have their eye on a larger prize — a new job, a promotion, or the chance to lead a project. I encourage people to determine a specific career objective and keep it front of mind as they learn."
• 3 Ways to Avoid a Nasty Breakup When Quitting Your Job: "I have often gone into telling my boss that I’m quitting with a copy of my resignation letter, which has helped me to stay professional and focused since it can be used like a script. Then make sure that it gets sent to your superiors and HR."