High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 10 Tips to Change Your Life for the Better

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!

• 10 Tips to Change Your Life for the Better: "
  If your day-to-day doesn’t revolve around projects you’re truly passionate about, take a step back and outline activities that do align with your strongest feelings."

• 15 Traits of Unstoppable People: "Without a healthy dose of self-confidence, you’ll be tempted to accept defeat when you should be finding a way to bounce back from failure."

• Want to Win? Write Stuff Down: "good documentation fuels your company with fluid communication and prevents it from being dragged down by cloistered knowledge."

• When is it Acceptable to Say No to Your Boss?: "Whether you have a great boss or an overly demanding one, you’ll most likely land in a scenario where you’re asked to do something you don’t want to do."
• 9 Hacks to Help You Save More Money: "The higher your net worth, the more passive income potential you have. The more passive income you have, the less you need from your next paycheck."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: The Future of Networking

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!

• The Future of Networking: "This is a great time for me to check in with those in my network, share relevant articles, make new connections and schedule social media posts. Building a network takes time and work."

• The 8 Morning Secrets of Successful People: "Waking up early with a positive mindset is the first step to a healthy morning routine. If you often feel like there’s not enough time in the day, extra early hours will help you get more done."

• 4 Practical Strategies to Find a Job that Energizes and Engages You: "Take classes related to areas of interest to open up your mind to new possibilities, and to give you more clarity about what you do and don’t enjoy."

• 3 Things to Check Before You Start a Job Search: "This means that you should keep records of your pay rate, salary, bonus, other compensation tools as well as what you recorded on your W2 each year in recent positions."
• 6 Essential Traits of Good Character: "When people don’t exercise self-control, they sabotage their ability to lead. People lose respect for them and will follow less, if at all. Self-control is the ability to choose to do the things we should, and to refrain from doing the things we shouldn’t."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: What Trait is Necessary for Success?

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

Today we focus on the trait most necessary for success. This trait is not social intelligence, high I.Q., good physical health, or good looks. In this video psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth discusses the trait she's identified in research as the most responsible for success. 

What do you think that trait is?

The Four Agreements at Work - Second in a Series

This post is the second in a series of posts pertaining to the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and how it relates in a career context. Click to read the first post.

A disparaging comment from a co-worker. A terse email from your supervisor. A lack of acknowledgement from a higher-up, or a tone of voice that you don't appreciate. What do all of these things have in common? They are all opportunities for you to violate the second agreement: taking things personally.

The second agreement: don't take anything personally
According to Ruiz, when we take things personally we do so out of an innate selfishness: we think that it's all about us. Me, me, me...all of the time.

But as crazed with ourselves as we are, we are also fragile. We are very susceptible to fear and jealousy. So when someone in the workplace does something that we feel is insulting or hurtful, we choose to take in "the poison" of their actions.

Here's the thing, though: we don't have to do this.

Ruiz advocates a different path, one where it is not all about us. The two-month long gap before we hear from (or don't hear from) a recruiter about a position is not about us. Getting chewed out for submitting a less-than-satisfactory project proposal is not about us. Any situation where we perceive ourselves to be put-off, let down, hurt, or anything of the like isn't about us. It is about that person who is living in his own world with his own beliefs and his own programming.

You don't have to let what he says in. It's entirely a choice you make.

The first agreement is designed to keep us from injecting poison; the second agreement is designed to keep poison from infecting us. And we can see what happens when let that poison in, from certain incidents of workplace violence to the more creative ways workers react to stress and leave their positions. These people have accepted the poison of others, and the results were extreme.

But this isn't to say that the poison let in comes from negative reactions to us. Ruiz is clear to say that anytime we let something to to our heads - good or bad -  we are infecting ourselves with poison. Internalizing the praise of others can have the same damaging effect on us and our way of being. You only need look as far as out-of-control celebrities or egocentric professional athletes to see the effect of accepting this poison.

As with the first agreement, the second agreement is best countered by becoming conscious of the ways it manifests itself in your life. How do you react when you are insulted or treated unfairly by coworkers? What do you do when coworkers heap praise upon you? Because both are poison that can affect your well-being. If you had nothing to fear and were full of love for yourself, either one would gently float by you like a breeze.

What people think about you is none of your business: this is a bold and powerful concept. Focus your energy on being true to your ethics, values, and sense of love for those you work with. The rest will come together.

Challenge: spend the next week being mindful of how you react to others. Post in the comments what you learned.

Ways to Win at Work

To be successful and “win at work” typically requires a consistent combination of positive actions, behaviors, and overall mindset. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, consider the following when establishing a path to career success.
Traits that Lead to Success
Just because people who are hard-working, ambitious, and self-motivated are often thought to come by these character traits naturally doesn’t mean others can’t develop similar traits. One way to do so is by observing those behaviors in others and then modeling them. To succeed, you must be diligent, motivated, and committed to doing your very best work. Note though, that success can be defined many different ways. For some it is position and salary and for others it is a sense of pride and satisfaction in a job well done.
Do Every Task Well
Every task you’re responsible for should be done well—even the menial ones. Much of your professional reputation will be based on the quality of your work. To complete tasks well and on time, be sure to manage your time, prioritize the tasks, and use strategies that work for you. For example, some prefer to complete the most difficult task first, while others, who are motivated by progress, begin by finishing several smaller tasks first.
Accept Change and Challenges
You will most certainly encounter change and challenges in your work, probably more often than you may have anticipated. Companies expect employees to adapt quickly to change and work through challenges. The pace of business, technology, and a global economy is rapid, so it is important to stay abreast of and flexible about the changes that impact you on a micro and macro level.
Continue Learning
There should never be a point in your career or life when you stop learning—even if it’s learning from your mistakes. Learning fosters new skills and knowledge that will help you remain relevant and develop professionally and personally.

Having a Job vs. Building a Career

College students: have you ever had someone tell you that he decided that he will never work a day in his life? You may ask yourself “how is that possible? EVERYONE has to work!” The operative words in the sentence are “work” and “decided.” Work is generally associated with an obligation, something that you have to do to survive. However, the decision you can make is to see work for what it can be: a stepping-stone in your career, a path to personal and professional fulfillment. If you feel that you’re going to work every day, follow these steps to start building your career:

• Understand your reasons: If you are employed during college you most likely will not be at that job for the rest of your life. Engage in some self-assessment: why are you working there? Perhaps it’s the only work study job that you could find close to your residence hall, or maybe the pay was greater than the alternatives. The idea here is to get clear with your reasons why you took that job, to think about this decision critically. Once you are clear about your reasons you can make some new decisions. What are your most important needs right now? Is it to pay loans? Maintain a lifestyle? Work close to your residence hall room? Or maybe you now want to find something that fits more with your academic interests?



• Make the decision: When you have achieved clarity regarding why you are working where you are and your needs, you can make the decision to stay or go. No job is meant to last forever and your needs not being met could be a sign that you are not feeling fulfilled. But if you decide that this position truly is meeting your needs, there’s only one thing left to do…



• Excel: Blow away your boss, your boss’s boss, and your coworkers with your ability to perform, your upbeat demeanor, and your willingness to take feedback and criticism. Show initiative and put thought into your job, looking for ways to improve it and improve yourself. The skills that you are accumulating and the attitude you are displaying are now part of your career and will carry you for years to come.

To paraphrase author James Allen, circumstances do not make you: they reveal you. By putting thought into and assessing your employment needs, you can create a foundation that will bolster your chances of success no matter what career field you choose. Choose career success today.

Selling Character Traits

College graduates or other young professionals who have acquired little or no relevant work experience still need to make a credible and convincing case in an interview. The good news is that for many employers, character traits are equally as important as work experience. Specific traits that employers seek can vary, but some are universal.

Strong work ethic: Think through several ways of showcasing your strong work ethic. Did you rise early every morning in high school to shovel neighbors’ driveways as a source of income? Did you volunteer at a local soup kitchen once a week throughout college? Maybe you took care of a younger sibling or volunteered to lead a college community group. Think of examples that show consistent, hard work, even if they don’t relate to a specific job.
Creativity: Explain how you were able to produce something in a fresh or unusual manner or talk about times you were able to work around problems to reach a solution.
Integrity: Discuss a situation in which you were able to discern the difference between right and wrong. This is particularly effective if you did the right thing despite pressure to do the opposite.
Responsibility: Describe in detail times you have been trusted to use good judgment and sound thinking to complete important projects on time. Perhaps you organized a fundraiser, managed a daily dog-walking business, or wrote a weekly column for the college newspaper. Stress examples in which you were responsible for delivering quality work while meeting deadlines consistently.

Many employers recognize that most job skills can be taught. However, this is not necessarily the case with character traits mentioned above. This is the reason why many employers consider investing in employees with backgrounds that demonstrate impressive character.