High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Protecting Time at Work by Setting Boundaries

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!

• Protect Your Time at Work by Setting Better Boundaries: "As a time management coach, I’ve seen a variety of ways in which people have successfully set boundaries with their colleagues.... here are some examples of boundaries you can set and strategies for communicating them to others."

• How Hiring Has Changed in the Last Decade: "Love it or hate it, Glassdoor has fundamentally changed the job search process by providing a platform for employees, candidates, and companies to share their thoughts and views on a company."

• 50 Best US Cities for Starting a Business in 2020: "In the following dispatches, you'll find a road map for turning forgotten ZIP codes into boomtowns--or simply for answering the age-old question: Where should you go next?."

• 4 Ways You Benefit from Serving Others: "You’ll see more money in your pocket and create a thriving business if you serve others, but what’s the point of wealth if you’re not happy? Good news: Science confirms that serving others makes you feel great."
• 7 Quick Reads to Keep You Motivated:"Whether you’re coming back from a relaxing getaway or just craving some new motivation, you’ll get a little brain food to fuel the next phase of your career."

4 Attitude Adjustments to Make About Your Job & Career

Did you find it difficult to get up this morning with enthusiasm for your job? If so, you’re not alone. Depending on what you read, most people are dissatisfied with their work situation.

If you are unhappy with your work, there are ways to make your job work for you until you move into a more satisfying position. But it will take some work and some changes to your attitude.

Make the effort to make some adjustments to how you view and approach your job and you can see your satisfaction levels increase.

View your job as an opportunity for growth. No matter what position you’re in the job provides opportunities for growth. You might have to look hard for these opportunities and the truth is, they might not be directly related to your job, but they exist. For example, if your current position does not seem to offer a way to move up or receive a promotion you can view this as a chance to develop patience. You might be an impatient person and this situation with your job allows you a chance to grow in this area of your life. Sure, it’s not why you took the job in the first place but don’t let that stop you from growing as a person.

View your job as an opportunity to serve. Wherever you work and whatever the nature of your job, your efforts impact others, regardless of whether you work as part of a team or are a lone freelancer. Someone else depends upon your efforts. You have an opportunity to serve those “customers” by making their work experience more pleasant and easier by doing excellent work with a view to support and serve others.

View your job as an opportunity to fulfill your purpose. As noted above, if most people feel dissatisfied at work, it’s likely they do not feel their job offers an opportunity to fulfill their purpose. To remedy this in your situation first requires you to become clear about your purpose. If you’ve done this work, then you are ready to think creatively about how your current job allows you to fulfill that purpose. You might find this to be a stretch, but you can likely come up with some basic ways your work supports the fulfillment of your purpose through your strengths and skills. 

View your job as a step to meeting your goals. You are not stuck, and this is not your final job (or resting place). There will be other opportunities that come along. View your current position as one step toward meeting your bigger goals and keep those goals clear, perhaps by writing them down and posting them on your desk in from of you. Take advantage of the opportunities that you have in your current position to develop the skills, learn the processes, gain the experience, and meet the people required to move to the next level in your career and meet your goals.

By adjusting your attitude to your job and career in these four ways, you can experience a greater sense of fulfillment, purpose, and energy at work.  

Four Ways to Enjoy Your Job Today

Many of us experience days when we are not motivated to go to work and we find ourselves disinterested in the job. It is at those times that we need to remind ourselves of the purpose behind our work and reconnect with our goals.

Below are four ways to approach your job today to help you gain a greater sense of satisfaction.

Strive to do excellent work. It can be easy to float through the day just getting by with “good enough” but it’s difficult to feel passionate about our work when we’re stuck in mediocrity. Whatever tasks you have on hand today challenge yourself to excellence. Take the initiative and strive to do your best, whether it’s cleaning a window to perfection, delivering a stunning presentation at a meeting, or preparing a sandwich at a fast food restaurant. You can improve the quality of the tasks and responsibilities you perform, and take pride in doing excellent work.

Find meaning in your work. In most jobs you can find some meaning in the work that increases your motivation and enjoyment of the work. If you are cleaning bathrooms you can find satisfaction in knowing that you are supporting the health of others by keeping this space clean and hygienic. A cook in a restaurant provides the food that energizes and fuels his customers. Think beyond your tasks and responsibilities today and focus on those who benefit from your work.  

Commit to serve. Look out for opportunities to help and assist others today. Instead of simply focusing on yourself and what you need to accomplish take a look around you. If someone on your team is struggling to complete a task or seems to be overwhelmed offer to help. If you work with the public or have regular contact with customers make a point of asking yourself, “how can I best serve those I come in contact with today?” You’ll likely find that by helping others you’ll experience a greater sense of well-being at work.

Connect with your colleagues. Find some time to interact with your co-workers, to share a laugh, a smile, and to offer some support. Your job will be much more enjoyable if you share the load with others and develop meaningful and supportive relationships with those you work with. 

Five Characteristics of Successful People

When you take a look at the lives of people who are successful in their careers and personal lives you can see some common characteristics, whether your talking about world-class athletes or billionaire entrepreneurs.

Let's take a look at a few of these traits and consider how to implement them into our lives in order to experience more success and improve the quality of our lives.

1. Curiosity. To be successful one must have a curiosity about the world, about people, about experiences, and about how things work. A successful person will consider the traditional knowledge of a subject and turn it on its head, looking at things from different perspectives and coming up with new and unique solutions.

2. Resilience. Failures, mistakes, and slip-ups will come and the most successful will understand this and find ways to get back up and move forward.

3. Positive attitude. You cannot control your circumstances, how others will respond to you, or what you experience in life and the workplace, but you can control how you respond to these things. Individuals who maintain a positive attitude and response to things outside of their control are more likely to be at peace with themselves regardless of events and circumstances.

4. Desire to serve. Life is not about taking and the most successful people understand that to be at their best they need to serve others. They consider the needs of their audience, their teams, their companies, or their clients and figure out the best way to be of service to them.

5. Clear purpose. By clear purpose we mean a clear purpose and vision to live a life that brings value to others, rather than simply living in order to maximize personal profit and fame. The most successful people have a clear vision for how they their lives and work can be of service to others.

5 Tips to Kickstart a New Job (or give a boost to an old one)

Starting a new job is an exciting time, filled with anxiety and the thrill of moving on to something better in your career.

However, unless you start the job right and instill some good habits, you can easily come to feel dissatisfied about that shiny new position.

In order to prevent that try implementing these tips to get the new job off to a great start. Or they work just as well to make an old job feel new.

1. Arrive 5 minutes early. This allows you to take a few moments to prepare for the day, get focused, and bring your best to the day.

2. Bring a positive attitude. You can control your mood and the attitude you bring to your work. When you bring a positive attitude to the job others will want to work with you, be more inclined to your ideas, and you will enjoy your day more.

3. Be willing to learn. In any job there are new things to learn. Be proactive and learn as much as you can about the position and about the work your new company does. If you've been in a job for awhile learning something new can help reinvigorate you and help increase your enjoyment of your work.

4. Make friends. Developing positive and friendly relationships with your colleagues increasing your well-being and satisfaction on the job. You'll be more likely to enjoy your work if you enjoy the people you work with.

5. Serve with excellence. Changing your perspective on your work and viewing everything you do as an opportunity for service and a chance to do something with excellence will also impact your attitude, appreciation, and enjoyment of your work.

Practicing these five tips can give you a kickstart no matter how long you've been in a job.

5 Steps to Developing a Positive Reputation at Your Workplace

In order to achieve great things in your life and career you need to work at it. Success will not be handed to you without putting in the time necessary. One key to becoming successful in your career is to develop a great reputation in your workplace. This will carry over to other jobs as your former colleagues speak positively and enthusiastically about you and the work you do.

Here are five steps to developing a great reputation at work:

1. Do great work. Of course the first thing you need to do is deliver on your promises. Do great work, deliver it on time (or preferably early), and meet or exceed any financial targets for your work. Doing a great job in all aspects of your work is the foundation for your reputation.

2. Be of service. Support your colleagues and co-workers and provide assistance when and where needed. Be the first to volunteer to help on a project or step in when another colleague is out sick.

3. Participate in task-forces or work groups. Get to know others within your company and increase your understanding of the industry by participating in cross-functional teams, task-forces, and other types of work groups.

4. Avoid negative talk. Do not criticize your supervisor or upper management in conversation with your colleagues. If you have an issue or concern take it directly to your supervisor of executive. Make every effort to speak positively about your work and the people you work with. Be a source of encouragement, rather than another naysayer in the workplace.

5. Be kind. In addition to doing great work, your reputation will be cemented by the way you treat people. Don't just watch your words. Your body language can indicate that you're not listening to someone or don't respect their opinion. And be kind to everyone, including the person at the front desk when you walk in. Greet everyone with a smile and treat them with kindness and you will be well on your way to developing a positive reputation at work.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Ways to Be More Likeable 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!

• 3 Ways to Be More Likeable at Work: "Listening is like a superpower, and people who are likeable tend to intuitively understand this. They make time to listen to what others have to say."
• Why You Should Stop Going to Networking Events: "Networking events almost never lead to business. And I have been to hundreds of them. It was a way for me to think I was being productive, but it wasn’t. It was a distraction."
• How Serving Others Can Help Make You a Great Leader: "The more I help people, the more it comes back to me in some way—we get ahead by helping others get ahead. Don’t lose sight of that, ever."
• How to Manage Distractions: "While you probably can't disconnect for the entire day, as little as 20 to 30 minutes of focused time can take you much further than two hours spent on the same task filled with constant interruptions."
• 4 Tweaks to Rev Up a Stalled Job Search: "While you might view flexibility as a virtue, it may at the same time be self-defeating. Remember that employers hire people who answer their needs."

6 Qualities of Effective Leaders

Leadership is a highly discussed topic, with many good books published each year on the subject. But for those who don't have time to read all those leadership books we've identified six of the top qualities you should strive to cultivate if you want to be a good and effective leader.

1. Effective leaders listen more than they speak. Leadership is not about making great speeches or
telling everyone else how to get the work done. A great leader spends much of his or her time listening to others in an attempt to better understand both the situation at hand and the people involved.

2. Effective leaders praise others instead of themselves. A good leader knows that others are the key to success and praises the members of his team rather than making himself look good. An effective leader is humble and doesn't waste time trying to impress others by constantly promoting his own "individual" successes. Very few successes are "individual."

3. Effective leaders take responsibility instead of passing blame. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, great leaders take responsibility and acknowledge the mistakes rather than blaming them on others.

4. Effective leaders serve others. Leaders who focus on others, on the team, and work to serve the needs of the team and of customers will generate greater trust and respect. Leadership is about serving others and serving well.

5. Effective leaders lead by example. A good leader knows that she must do the hard work and not simply expect or demand others to work hard. Effective leaders work hard, demonstrate appropriate work-life balance, and show the appropriate way to communicate and treat clients, co-workers, and customers.

6. Effective leaders never stop learning. A great leader understands that he does not possess all knowledge and continues to learn. He or she is curious about the world and about others and strives to continue to learn more about being a better person and a more effective leader.