High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Harnessing Positive Thinking to Grow Your Career and Business

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!

• Harnessing Positive Thinking to Grow Your Career and Business: "If you allow yourself to dwell on the negative, habitual skepticism will run your life and influence your decisions. It’s hard, if not impossible, to build success when you’ve resigned yourself to negativity."

• How to Have a More Energized and Productive Meeting: "icebreakers and other getting-to-know-you activities promote better collaboration. These exercises raise the energy level and give people a chance to get to know one another."

• 10 Best Practices for Managing Your Email: "Emails are clearly a major part of our personal and professional lives today, and yet many people spend as much as one or two hours a day managing them."

• Motherhood Inspired These Entrepreneurs to Start Companies With a Mission: "Palmer encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to identify a problem that needs to be solved and create a solution that your audience will love."
• 9 Ways to Build Wealth Fast:"Don't think that you have to do everything. Instead, focus on a few things and do them well. It all starts by investing in yourself."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Start a Business in a Day

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 Start a Business in a Day:"take a little time to determine how many businesses like yours are out there and what services they offer. How can you differentiate yourself from them?"

• 10 Free Online Courses to Learn More About Business: "a number of top universities across the world offer free online classes for you to bolster your skills as a leader and business owner."

• How to Run Meetings You Actually Want to Attend: "The meeting you want to have is the one that leaves you feeling energized, with more clarity and focus than you had going in."

• A Psychologist's Advice for Talking About "Weaknesses" in Interviews: "your ability to pretend that you are thinking on the spot - or, even better, that you have been put on the spot - and have been forced to sincerely report on your biggest weaknesses, is likely to make a better impact on your interviewers."
• The Best Career Advice I've Ever Received: "Listening to their stories and being receptive to their advice continue to guide me and help me reach new milestones. Below are just a few of the best words of advice I’ve ever received."

5 Ways to Prepare for a Meeting with the CEO

Successful companies and good leaders understand that effective communication is critical to their success and hearing their employees is necessary to achieving the company’s goals.

But what can employees do to be better prepared, and less anxious, when meeting with the head of the company?

Apply these five tips and you’ll get the most out of the meeting, while also making a good impression when you sit down with the CEO.

   

Understand the purpose of the discussion. You’ll want to come into the meeting with a clear knowledge of why the meeting is happening. Is your CEO looking for feedback on a specific product or process, or is this a general check-in like your annual exam with the physician? If you have a clear understanding of the meeting’s agenda, you can better manage your expectations and help shape the conversation in a way that is more beneficial to you and your boss.

Prepare a few questions in advance. Once you understand the purpose for the meeting jot down a few questions you have. Make sure they are relevant to the agenda and to the direction and goals your company has. By coming to the meeting prepared, and with relevant questions, you demonstrate that you are engaged with the company’s mission and purpose.

Be honest but not negative. Your CEO wants honest and clear feedback from you but does not want to be ambushed with an off-topic complaint or general negativity about the company. Offer constructive feedback on issues related to the purpose of the meeting and, when possible, provide ideas and solutions to problems you identify.

Be on time and dress appropriately. This should require little explanation but demonstrate respect for yourself and for your CEO by attending the meeting on time and properly attired. Look like you belong in the meeting.

Don’t overstay your welcome. Sometimes when we’re anxious we can talk too much, not listen effectively, and ignore important signals. Stick to the agenda and purpose of the meeting without oversharing and taking up too much time. Focus on listening well and provided clear and concise information to your boss and you’ll do well.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 4 Tips for Young Professionals Stepping Into Leadership Roles

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!

• 4 Tips for Young Professionals Stepping Into Leadership Roles: "When I mentor young leaders, here are four simple priorities we discuss from the start."

• How to Create a Culture for More Productive Work Meetings: "Training your team to treat meetings as time- and money-intensive endeavors will result in better outcomes for everyone."

• The Best Way to Get a Mentor? Stop Asking for One: "Focus on the things you can do and building relationships that help others succeed, and mentors will come knocking on your door before you know it."

• 10 Steps to Master Anything: "It’s about the right kind of practice and monitoring your progress along the way. It turns out any skill can be gained quickly through what I call progressive mastery."
• 5 Traits Every Woman Leader Needs to Embrace: "the very behaviors and traits – ambition, assertiveness, an uncompromising vision – that women get picked apart over are the very behaviors we look for in our leaders."

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."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Myths That Are Killing Your Productivity

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!

• 3 Myths That Are Killing Your Productivity: "Some people are naturally more productive in the later hours, while many peak midmorning. Figure out what works and get on a schedule that allows you to get enough sleep."
• 10 Tips for Phone Interview Success: "In the age of technology, you need to be extra cognizant of outside distractions. Mute other phones, email and text alerts along with any incoming call notifications, as they can disrupt your conversation and train of thought."
• How to Hold a Productive Meeting in 7 Minutes or Less: "There’s no sitting down during these meetings; everyone stands up because it forces people to move and think a little faster, without the luxury of getting too comfortable."
• 5 Choices Every Job Seeker Makes: "How you job hunt says a good deal about your character, inquisitiveness and personality. And, you'll get different results when you stay up to date and carefully position yourself among your competitors."
• How to Handle the Imposter Syndrome: "One of the greatest barriers to moving outside your comfort zone is the fear that you’re a poser, that you’re not worthy, that you couldn’t possibly be qualified to do whatever you’re aiming to do."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

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!

• 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: "It’s futile to wallow in your problems, exaggerate your misfortune and keep score of how many hardships you’ve endured....Self-pity keeps you focused on the problem and prevents you from developing a solution."
• Succeed in New Situations: "According to several studies ... the more questions new employees ask and the more help they seek, the better they perform."
• 5 Tips for Running an Awesome Meeting: "Decide how you can change your meeting planning to only cover subjects that require everyone's input or that affect an entire department."
• 6 Habits to Improve Memory and Boost Brain Health: "Multitasking diminishes mental productivity, elevates brain fatigue and increases stress."
• Is the Workplace Responsible for Lack of Confidence?: "The conclusions of the study were that the current work environment does not provide women with female role models or managerial support and encouragement. It endorses an ideal worker stereotype that doesn’t resonate with most women."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Essentials for Thriving in Business and Life

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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• 5 Non-negotiables for Thriving in Business and Life: "All great leaders and visionaries have realized that being fearless is part of the recipe for success."


• The Two Types of People in the Work World: "There are only two types of people in the world. People who do what they say they’re going to do when they say they’re going to do it, and people who don’t do what they say they’re going to do when they say they’re going to do it."


• 5 Ways to Make Your Workplace More Efficient: "Unless it's a necessary client meeting or important brainstorm session, nine times out of 10, meetings don't accomplish what they were meant to achieve."


• The Right and Wrong Way to Network: "While we build networks by forming authentic relationships; we nurture them by providing value to others."


• 3 Tips to Make Your Lunch Break Revitalizing: "While building my business, I thought I had to be chained to my desk during lunch. I feared a disaster would occur and it’d serve me right for not being there."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Stop Sabotaging Your 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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 4 Ways to Stop Sabotaging Your Success: "No matter how skilled you think you are at dividing your attention, you really are more effective when you focus. Don’t jump ahead or try to do it all at once in an effort to save time. You’ll feel more accomplished, building momentum you need to go onto the next task, if you complete just one task at a time."


• Tips for Being Super-Productive When Working from Home: "Set limits and focus on time sensitive projects first. It is also important to schedule more important tasks at the time of day when you are most productive. Tune into your body and learn when you are most alert and concentrated."


• Empathy is Key to a Great Meeting: "Empathy is a competency that allows you to read people. Who is supporting whom? Who is pissed off and who is coasting? Where is the resistance? This isn’t as easy as it seems."


• Keys to Overcome Fear and Do Better at Work: "To dare risk jumping out of your comfort zone changes the way people respond to you ... That changes the way you see yourself."


• When a Co-worker Becomes Your New Boss: "Use this as an opportunity to clean up your behavior. Ditch the jealousy, and look to your new manager as a role model. How is she delivering on what the company values?"

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Standing Out in a Job Interview

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Career Advice from Bill Murray: "You have to remind yourself that you can do the very best you can when you’re very, very relaxed. No matter what it is, no matter what your job is, the more relaxed you are, the better you are."


• 10 Ways to Make Career and Motherhood Work: "Rather than define success by external standards, look at your family. How are they doing? If they are happy and well adjusted, don’t get caught up in what you are supposed to do. And, in case you forgot, stop comparing."


• Standing Out in a Job Interview: "Note down before the interview two to three outcomes that will make the job successful. Select stories and experiences from your background that demonstrate you can deliver those characteristics."


• Tools for More Productive Meetings: "Taking good, searchable notes makes meetings much more valuable, and the right note-taking tool will make it easy for you to file your meeting notes with the project or topics they relate to."


• 4 Tips to Start Strong at Your New Job: "You should deliberately seek out company knowledge and your boss’s expectations in order to understand how things work and how you can add value."