4 Practices to Implement in 2016 to Improve Your Life and Career

Let's not call these resolutions, ok? Resolutions can be daunting and we often implement them for a few weeks (or days) before dropping them and never looking back.

If we look at the following practices as just that, simple practices or strategies that can bring added value to your life but don't require fierce diligence, then perhaps we'll be more likely to incorporate some of them into our routines.

1. Meditation. No, we're not suggesting you become a monk or anything but a regular habit of even brief meditation has been shown to bring great benefits such as reducing stress and boosting productivity. There's even an app for it!

2. Sleep. Yes, this is often the first casualty of a busy life but 7-8 hours of sleep is critical to functioning effectively and being at your best every day. Research indicates that losing four hours of sleep at night produces a state near drunkenness and going to work in a drunken state is not likely to result in a good day.

3. Movement. We now live primarily sedentary lifestyles as we spend increasing amounts of time in front of screens every day. To be at our best and have increased energy we need to move. A simple practice of getting up every hour and taking a brief 5 minute walk will do wonders. As Tom Rath notes, "If you eat, move, and sleep well today, you will have more energy tomorrow. You will treat your friends and family better. You will achieve more at work and give more to your community."

4. Relationship. We need other people to be at our best and to live well. Make a practice of eating lunch with colleagues and scheduling monthly (if not weekly) time to spend with a close friend. Ensure that this time allows for some dedicated and concentrated time to talk.

Mind Your Brand

When you hear “Trump” what words come to mind? You may think of “luxury,” “success,” or “business.” The associations that you make are no accident; Donald Trump has intentionally created them through vigorous attention to his personal brand. Personal branding is the process by which you deliberately create, control, and maintain your professional reputation. It touches on nearly every aspect of your career life, from how you dress and communicate with others to your social media presence and the knowledge, skills, and abilities you have at your disposal.

Anyone in any profession can create and maintain a personal brand; it is not limited to white-collar workers or CEOs. While there are plenty of resources at your disposal in print and online to help you start shaping your brand (the works of Dan Schawbel and Tom Peters are a great place to start), here are some questions to guide you in your journey of self discovery and professional control.

• How do those I work with describe me professionally?


• What do I think I am currently doing that makes me a strong professional?


• What knowledge, skills, and abilities do I need to further my career?


• What do I do to show others that I enjoy my career?


• How does my online reputation project the professional persona that I want it to?

Get By With a Little Help From Your Profs

Ask any successful professional the secret to her success and I will wager that you will not hear "I did it on my own." We all need a support system - a personal "board of directors," if you will - and a mentor is a crucial part of it. A mentor is someone who has specialized experience in the work field that you are interested in entering and who agrees to help nurture your success. The key phrase in that last sentence is in the work field that you are interested in entering. It differentiates a mentor from a coach (the latter being a topic for a different blog post).

College professors have the potential to be wonderful mentors: they are most definitely experts in their fields through their academic backgrounds and research, and the cultivation of young minds is their forte. How would you approach one of your college professors to be a mentor to you?

• Be familiar: a mentor relationship is best cultivated with someone with whom you already have a relationship. If you do not have one, create one by becoming engaged academically and studying your field outside of class.

• Be intentional: meet with your professor during her office hours and express that you are interested in creating a mentorship relationship with her. State why you've asked her in particular and what you hope to get out of the relationship. Furthermore, show genuine reciprocity by asking what you can do for her.

• Be resilient: professors are very busy, so do not be surprised or discouraged by a reply of "thanks, but no thanks." Simply seek out others with similar qualifications who can assist you with your career.

Marketing Your Idea

Selling your idea to your boss, co-workers, or management can be a tricky proposition. Typically, multiple stakeholders are involved, and organizations tend to be slow to change and risk averse. Before approaching your boss or co-workers with that fabulous new idea, consider the following recommendations.

Evaluate your target. If the person you need to convince is your boss, determine how he or she would view your proposal. Be prepared to respond to potential trouble spots and be ready to demonstrate how your idea will make his or her life easier. Include some of your boss’s favorite buzzwords and analogies in your proposal.
Do the research. Be able to support your idea with facts, figures, and real-world examples. Look at your role as that of an attorney putting together the most effective case. Packaging is also important. How does your boss like to receive information? Does he or she prefer a dog-and-pony show—in other words, an elaborate production—or facts and figures on a spreadsheet?
Invite without pressure. Before approaching your boss, convince some co-workers or key people in other departments to support your idea. Invite your boss and other co-workers along for the ride and get them on board early. Move slowly and be willing to accept a bite-sized “yes.” Offer flexibility by pitching the idea as a pilot program that can be regularly evaluated then expanded upon later.
Follow up. Keep your boss and other management invested in your project and updated on its progress. If your idea was rejected, find out why—and keep trying. Some of the most successful inventors in history were rejected multiple times before finally being given a chance.