Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Living Your Passion as an Entrepreneur

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.

In the video below from Fast Company, Andrew Deitchman, CEO of The New Stand, talks about living your passion as an entrepreneur and getting up each day to work on something that excites you.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 10 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate from Your Daily Routine

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 Bad Habits You Must Eliminate from Your Daily Routine: "When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness."

• How to Kill it in Business With Your Sibling Without Killing Each Other: "The part where things get trickier is how you communicate once the work begins, in front of employees and management. Siblings can't simply transplant their existing dynamic into the workplace without making some adjustments."

• How to Transition from a Corporate Career to Entrepreneur: "Many entrepreneurs get caught in the same kind of hamster wheel that they were in when they had a regular J-O-B. You have to take an active role in creating the work experience that you actually want, not the one you’re familiar with."

• Give Your Team More-Effective Positive Feedback: "Recognition has been shown to increase happiness at work in general and is tied to cultural and business results, such as job satisfaction and retention."
• This is How to Choose Your First Job Out of College: "First, find a place where you look up to the people you’ll be working with. The reason is that you become like the people you work with, whether you want to or not. So you want to choose wisely."

5 Ways to Overcome Fear, Doubts, and Uncertainty in Your Career

Fear is often one of the strongest emotions we experience when it comes to taking on new challenges and tasks in a career. Sometimes we allow doubt to creep into our minds and we tell ourselves that we have no business expecting success and we feel like a fraud when we get that promotion.

This is common to many people and there are ways to deal with these thoughts and feelings.

Try these five ways to overcome fear, doubt, and uncertainty in your career:

1. Meditate. Take 5 to 10 minutes when you start your day to practice meditation. This calming practice will help set your fears and anxieties to rest and also allow you to fill your mind with some positive words if you add a simple phrase to meditate on, such as "I am grateful for each new opportunity."

2. Identify strengths and successes. Write down three of your strengths, along with three significant successes you've had in your life. Post this somewhere you can view it several times throughout the day. Drawing attention to your strengths and successes will help remind you that you are capable and have the skills necessary to be a success.

3. Practice positive self-talk. Learn to identify when you are telling yourself negative thoughts or are filled with fear and doubt. Take a moment to breath carefully and replace your thoughts with something true and inspiring. This is where identifying your strengths and successes can come in handy. Replace your doubts by reminding yourself of the ways you excel.

4. Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. The people in our lives play an important role in our mood and how we think of ourselves. Make an effort to associate with people who inspire and encourage you to be the best version of you.

5. Seek out a mentor. When taking on new challenges and opportunities it can feel overwhelming and so it is important and beneficial to have an experienced person who can serve as a sounding board and provide counsel and advice while you grow in your work.

Try to implement these five strategies at any time in your life and career and you'll likely decrease the hold that fear, doubts, and uncertainty has over you.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Make Money on Twitter

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.

In the video below by Michelle Held and Entrepreneur, learn what it takes to sell on Twitter, starting with building a social media following, developing website landing pages, and then selling like a pro.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Ways to Grow a Side Business While Keeping Your Day 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!

• 5 Ways to Grow a Side Business While Keeping Your Day Job: "There’s an app for systematizing almost every aspect of your business. Your goal should be to free up as much time as possible to work on revenue-driving tasks that net the highest return for the limited amount of free time you have."

• 7 Ways to Become a Better Person this Week: "Instead of wasting even a second considering the opinions of future people—people who are not even born yet—focus every bit of yourself on being the best person you can be in the present moment."

• 10 Harsh Lessons That Will Make You More Successful: "When all is said and done, you will lament the chances you didn’t take far more than you will your failures. Don’t be afraid to take risks."

• 4 Steps to Building Your Dream Career: "There’s no point spending time planning out a dream career in an industry or occupation that you are just not passionate about."
• How to Steer Clear of Office Gossip: "My own preferred tactic, which I used successfully over the years, involved a combination of ignoring the conversation and instead going on to inject a business-related subject that had no connection to what was being gossiped about."

5 Topics of Conversation to Avoid in the Workplace

If you work in the average workplace then you likely are friendly with your co-workers and find yourselves engaged in conversations on topics that have nothing to do with work. In some cases this is helpful and results in colleagues becoming friends.

However, sometimes you can spend time discussing topics that are divisive and have the opposite effect. Spend too much time on these topics and you might end up with an enemy or two at work.

Here are five topics you should consider avoiding in conversations with your co-workers on the job:

1. Politics. Of course, this is a big one and this year might be the most divisive election ever. Even something that might seem fairly innocuous, like a campaign bumper sticker posted in a cubicle, can lead to unpleasant conversations. It's best to leave political conversations at home and when you're with friends.

2. Religion. When you're working you are there to do a job, not convert someone to your religious views. Of course, if someone asks about your weekend it's fine to mention attending a religious service but it should end there, unless your colleague asks to discuss it further. In that case, you might suggest meeting up for lunch or after work. As tolerant as we might like to think we are, religious conversations can become contentious and are best left outside of the office.

3. Money. Speaking of religion, there is the Biblical observation that love of money is the root of all evil. Do not ask your colleagues how much money they make, what their salary is, or how much of a bonus they received ... and do not reveal this information about yourself. Talk of money in the workplace leads to envy and discontent. Do not go there.

4. Sex. No one in the workplace needs to know who you're sleeping with, when was the last time you had sex, or which colleague you'd most like to get with. And the workplace is not the place to be on the hunt for potential sexual partners. You are there to do a job, so do it.

5. Boss. The only person you should ever discuss your boss with is your boss, unless you are saying something positive about him or her. Never speak negatively about your boss to another colleague. If you must speak critically about your supervisor make sure it is in the constructive setting of an evaluation process. Otherwise, follow the maxim we learned as children: if you don't have anything positive to say, don't say anything at all.  

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Health as a Competitive Advantage For Business & Results

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.

In the video below by Peter Voogd, he shows how to transform your mindset into a launchpad to better physical, mental, and emotional well-being, providing practical tips to keep yourself healthy and bursting with positive energy.

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."

5 Things to Do When You're the New Person at the Office

Starting a new job can produce feelings of fear, excitement, anxiety, and a combination of other emotions. You want to start out well and make a good impression, right? Well how do you go about this?

Here are a few tips:

1. Accept your emotions. No matter how you're feeling understand that it is fine to experience some fear or anxiety when starting a new job. If you don't accept these emotions you can end up being too harsh on yourself, further increasing your anxieties or fears and causing you to struggle longer in the job.

2. Seek out a mentor. This doesn't have to be your direct supervisor, but find someone who can mentor you through your initial period of adjustment. Maybe it's someone who's been at the company a long time and can help you understand the company culture and power dynamics specific to the company or your particular area or division.

3. Get to know a wide variety of people. Don't eat lunch alone. Take the initiative to invite others for a coffee or out to lunch, and get to know people from all areas of the company, and people with differing areas of expertise and levels of seniority. This will help you better understand the job and your place in the company, increasing your comfort level.

4. Be humble and ask questions. This is often the easiest time in your career to ask questions and learn. There are no expectations that you know everything about the job so do what you can to learn as much as you can about the work you're doing. Don't be afraid of looking like you don't have all the answers; you don't and you just started. And that is fine.

5. Volunteer to help out. Offering to help others provides a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues and increases your understanding of your work.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 5 Morning Rituals to Make Each Day Happier and More Productive

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 Entrepreneur notes that a if you want a happier and more productive start to the day, adopting your own morning ritual may help increase confidence and alleviate anxiety.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Strategies to Succeed in a New Leadership Position

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 Strategies to Succeed in a New Leadership Position: "Show humility, be gracious and accept suggestions from your fellow leaders. You will win the respect of your team and it will be easier for them to follow your lead."

• 5 Ways to Create and Maintain an Abundance Mindset: "Instead of focusing on what you lack, focus on what you do have. You’ll feel more abundant, and you’ll appreciate the good - and even the bad -- just a little bit more."

• 6 Career Actions You Should Take But Probably Don't: "Don’t just assume the work you’re doing is good enough or valued or relevant to the current priorities. Ask for feedback."

• Think Slow and Other Tricks for Better Problem-Solving: "the rote recall of information—or the obligatory regurgitation of possible solutions at top speed—takes place somewhere outside the analytical mind, constituting a reaction less intellectual, more glandular in nature."
• The Follow-Up Email Every Job Seeker Needs to Know How to Write: "Use the opportunity not just to follow up, but to show once again why you’re the best candidate for the job."

5 Career Lessons from the Presidential Campaign

For many people in the this country November can't come soon enough and it will be a relief to be done with this election cycle.

But there are lessons we can take from the campaigns and apply them to our careers.

Though the campaigns have been divisive and seem to shed light on a clear divide in this country, we can take away from them the following five tips for our careers:

1. Contrary to what you might hear, truth counts. It's difficult to achieve personal or career success if you are not a person who values veracity and speaks the truth. The two main presidential candidates both have low approval ratings and that stems largely from a perception that they do not tell the truth.

2. Words matter. In some ways this election has been an assault on the English language, with incomplete and incoherent statements, along with various insults that, no matter how one attempts, can not be taken back or disregarded. We would do well in our careers (and life) to follow the simple advice we likely heard as children: "if you can't say something nice, say nothing at all."

3. Listen to those you work with and for. Successful politicians hear their constituents, they read the hopes and anxieties of people, and they respond to them with thoughtfulness and policies that demonstrate they've heard. In the same way, success in our careers is dependent on hearing the needs of our customers, co-workers, and managers, and acting on those needs in carefully considered ways.

4.  Preparation counts. Usually politicians have spent many years preparing to hold public office in ever increasingly responsible positions. They spend years studying the issues, meeting with constituents, and performing public service. In the same way, success in our careers takes time, effort, and preparation. Don't expect overnight success without putting in the work.

5. Success takes persistence. The election process in this country is a long process and takes great effort, determination, and persistence from our candidates, particularly those seeking the highest office. Similarly, success in your career is a process and requires one to persist, even in the face of clear opposition and failures.

These are five career tips you can take with you long after the election is over.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 7 Qualities That Lead To Perseverance When Faced With Adversity

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 Forbes identifies seven qualities that cause some of us to bounce back and persevere in response to failure or disappointment, while others are left despairing and defeated.