High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Behaviors That Can Make You More Successful at 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!

• 5 Behaviors That Can Make You More Successful at Work: "People destined for greatness know exactly when to quit—only when they’ve found success. You have the patience to see something through to the end."

• The 15 Minute Ritual Necessary to Recharge Your Day: "We've got great research supporting the fact that naps can help corporations and employees, yet we still feel reluctant to make it an acceptable part of a healthy lifestyle and a healthy workday."

• Why the Traditional 4-Year Degree Isn't Cutting It Anymore: "Even as greater numbers of young Americans head to college, fewer are seeing the return on their substantial investments of time, effort and money."

• 3 Reasons Why It's Never Too Late to Start the Work You Love: "I began to look at my time as an investment. If a project did not help me grow, forge meaningful relationships or give me personal fulfillment, it had to go."
• What to Do When You're Feeling Distracted at Work: "If you have colleagues who are constantly distracted themselves, or who tend to pull you away from work, try to spend less time with them."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Start a Business

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.

The video below from The School of Life discusses how to start a business, and suggests that one factor should not be overlooked: love and a desire to share a product or service that we love a little more intensely than most others with the world. Watch the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 9 Tactics to Land You the Job

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!

• 9 Tactics to Land You the Job: "Ask for the job enthusiastically. If they say they are 'still looking,' ask what for and explain how you are a perfect match, and then ask again."
• 11 Career-Related New Year's Resolutions: "Want a raise or a new job? Better work-life balance?"
• Veterans and the Holiday Job Search: "When a job seeker displays initiative in setting up informational interviews during the holidays, she communicates that she is resourceful and hard-working."
• 6 Qualities of a Non-Toxic Employee: "Look for employees who are good with taking direction and take full responsibility for their work."
• 6 Strategies to Transform a Job You Hate into One You Love: "Knowing that by sticking it out, you’ll be gaining skills that will aid you in getting to the next level in your career, and that can help to keep you engaged."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Productivity and Insane Success

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!

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• How to Get More Done in the Morning: "Hold off on opening your email until you’ve successfully completed your top three work-related tasks for the day, since email can affect your mood and derail you before you’ve accomplished anything."


• 4 Secrets of Insanely Successful People: "The leader has a clear idea of what he or she wants to do—professionally and personally—and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures."


• 9 Ways to Deal with Difficult People at Work: "The best way to deal with difficult people in a meeting is to engage them and not attempt to silence them or be dismissive."


• Be Open to New Ideas: "Remain open to ideas from anywhere.... When a leader demonstrates he is open to new ideas, he makes it known that he values others."


• Stop Hating Your Job and Love Your Life: "Your job is a place to learn from others, and also to teach them. What you learn and teach are more than merely job skills. You learn from others the value of shared humanity. And you teach them the gift of your unique perspective."

Turn Your Passion into a Career

Have you ever had a job where time literally flew by, where you loved going to work every day, where you felt happy and fulfilled at the end of most days? Often times, this situation occurs when we are doing something that we are passionate about. I always tell people that we spend too much of our lives working to be unhappy with what we do.

Have you ever considered following your passion in life and turning it into a career? Let's explore some methods you can use to do just that.

Tap into Your Volunteer Work
When people are passionate about something, they often find a way to be in the environment - even if it means they don't get paid. If you have been volunteering in the career field you want to move toward, highlight this experience and insider knowledge on your resume and tap into networking connections you have developed.

I met a man who was in the Air Force. At every base, he found a way to volunteer for the Forestry Department. When he transitioned out of the USAF, he wanted to be a forest ranger. He had already done the job, he just had not been paid for it. His resume started with and focused on his volunteer experience;  his work experience was simply icing on the cake.

Turn Your Part-time Hobbies into Full-time Work
Your passion may be something you do in your free time, outside of work hours. When people are truly passionate about something, they learn as much as they can about the subject matter. You may not have been paid for your knowledge before, but you still may be a subject matter expert.

I know someone who brewed his own beer as a hobby. He was very knowledgeable about the methods, ingredients, and different procedures because of the trial and error brewing he did at home. When someone asked him if he ever thought of pursuing this as a career, he said it had honestly never occurred to him. Within a week, he had found an opening at a small craft brewery in his hometown and applied for the job.

Explore Your Options
Everyone has an affinity or natural talent for something, they simply need to discover it. I like to ask people this question, "If you knew you could not fail, had the resources you needed, and were supported by family, friends, and community, what would you do?" Open your mind to the multitude of possibilities and dream big. However, it is also important to be realistic. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• Will following my passion require me to start a business? Do I have the right personality, resources, and knowledge to be a business owner?
• Will I still enjoy my passion if I have to focus on it 24/7?
• Is my passion something that people are willing to pay for?
• Is there a demand for what I do in the market?

How to Find What You Love to Do

I am not one of those people who have known since they were five years old - or even twenty five - what they wanted to do. I went to college, not because I had a goal in mind, but because it was expected of me. For almost fourteen years, I was not happy in my career. Some may say, why didn't you just make a change?

You should be prepared to realistically spend 40 to 50 years working full-time. Why spend all those years doing something that does not make you happy? In my opinion, there are two main reasons that people don't pursue their "dream" job and do what they really love to do. Once these two reasons can be overcome, there really is no stopping you from pursuing what you really love to do.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. - Steve Jobs

Reason #1
The first reason is that people don't have any clue as to what kind of career will make them happy. This was definitely my case. I did not have the knowledge or resources to help me assess what career I fit best into. Your first step in finding out what you love by assessing your values, your personality, and the type of work environment that suits those both. Often, instead of doing what we love to do, we struggle between what we think we can do, what we (or others) think we ought to do, and what we want to do.

Sit down and write out an exhaustive list of your skills first. Next, in a column next to your list of skills write out your interests. Write down every interest you can think of, including those subjects of which you have knowledge. For example, I really enjoy mysteries. I approach each customer interaction as discovering hidden treasure and helping them uncover the mystery of what accomplishments they have not yet realized. Evaluate your list of skills and interests and chances are you will find correlation between the two that you can bring together.

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want. - Margaret Young

Reason #2
The second reason is that we are not asking ourselves the right questions. The right job enhances your life, it feels natural because it is an extension of your personality, and it does not force you to do things that you do not do well. It simply reflects who you are.

Ask yourself these questions when you are deciding what is the right job for you:

• Do you look forward to going to work?
• Do you feel energized by what you do?
• Do you feel respected and appreciated for the contributions you make?
• Are you proud to describe what you do?
• Do you enjoy and respect the people you work with on a regular basis?
• Do you feel optimistic about your future in the job?

The path toward career satisfaction is quite simple, although not easy. Figure out your preferences and then find a job that accommodates them. Good luck pursuing your career love!