High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Identify Your Life Purpose & Leverage it in Your Career

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!

• Identify Your Life Purpose & Leverage it in Your Career:"each of us can identify a key, over-arching purpose of our lives and live from that knowledge, and doing so is helpful and positive. And I've seen that when we do, we open the door to experiencing more joy, peace, satisfaction and positive energy."

• 7 Ways to Maximize Your Workspace & Productivity: "Now that I’ve fully implemented the formula, I’m much happier and infinitely more productive. My desk is now my oasis. Adopting these seven habits made all the difference."

• How to Be Creative When You're Feeling Stressed: "f you still feel stuck and just can’t come up with something new, then you may want to give your brain more material to work with. This could look like reading on the topic, taking a field trip to a place where you can see other people’s creative solutions to a similar problem, or talking to experts."

• How to Stay Productive When You Travel A Lot: "People overvalue money and undervalue time. I have been willing to spend money to make sure I am fully staffed so that I can leverage my time better."
• 25 Lessons Business School Won't Ever Teach You: "You may learn negotiation strategies in business school, but the act of doing it in real time, in real life, is entirely different."

How to Stay Focused at Work During the Holidays

 © Andrii Klemenchenko | Dreamstime.com

This is the time of the year when our attention turns to family, gifts, food, celebrations, and time away from the office. But if you’re like most, you still have a job to do over the coming weeks. 

It can be tempting to spend valuable work time shopping for the final gift you need to buy for your cousin, and it’s easy to find distractions that prevent us from giving our full attention to the job. 

Implement these steps to help you stay focused on the task at hand. 

Put away the phone. When you get to work put your mobile phone away and turn off notifications. Lock it in a drawer if you can. This will prevent you from checking your personal email, scrolling through Facebook, and making personal phone calls throughout the day. 

Don’t sign up with your work email. You likely enjoy getting deals and so you’ve probably signed up to be emailed coupons and special offers from many of your favorite brands and retailers. This can be a big distraction if you have these sent to your work email address, especially with the increased number of messages sent around the holidays. Use your personal email and review them on your own time and unsubscribe from any of these emails that are coming to your work email address. 

Restrict access to shopping and news sites. If you spend time on a computer at work be sure to avoid sites you find particularly distracting. You might want to consider an app that prevents you from loading sites such as Amazon, Facebook, or CNN from your work computer, particularly if it is difficult for you to manage this on your own. 

Refocus at lunch. You finally have a few minutes in your day to relax and take a break. Feel free to reward a focused morning with some personal time but also use your lunch time to refocus and prioritize the remainder of your day. This can be an important time to reset the goals you have for the day and evaluate your progress. 

Reward your focus. Over the holidays be sure not to overwork and miss out on the fun. The holidays are a great time to reconnect with others and it’s important to reduce stress levels by attending the company’s holiday party and other opportunities to celebrate with your colleagues. 

By taking a few actions to stay focused over the holidays you can enjoy work and experience both the holiday work time and vacation time with reduced stress.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to make Your Life a Success

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 Inc. features an interview with author and speaker Simon Sinek on his journey and what leads to a successful life. Check out the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Manage Your Workload During the Holidays

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 Manage Your Workload During the Holiday Season:"if you’re concerned about keeping up with your workload in the absence of much of your team, try suggesting to your boss that you hire some temps to help compensate."

• Well-Meaning Career Advice to Avoid: "There are probably just five people in the world who have learned to like–or at least tolerate–the unfiltered version of you, and I doubt your boss is one of them."

• A New Way to Become More Open-Minded: "If openness to experience means you’re willing to try pickle-flavored ice cream, intellectual humility means you’re willing to admit you like it, even if you initially thought you wouldn’t."

• How to Ensure That You Are Constantly Improving: "Hearing others’ stories oftentimes helps me to avoid difficult situations but more importantly motivates me to set goals for myself."
• What Makes Teams Work?: "When we face the fact that none of us is above making a mistake, we create a space where innovation can take place."

Five Areas to Be Grateful for in Your Career

As we approach Thanksgiving Day it’s good to think about our career and the parts of our work lives that we’re grateful for. We’d also recommend a daily gratitude practice but that is a story for another time.

There are many aspects of our career that we might be thankful for but for now let’s focus on the following five areas.

The opportunity to do work that benefits your community and the world, while utilizing your strengths, talents, skills, and interests. It’s fulfilling to find work that interests you and enables you to use your strengths and skills to make the world a better place through your company’s products or services.

Working with good people. You’re fortunate when you work with a competent and dedicated team that you enjoy working with toward a common goal. You earn bonus points when there is one or two co-workers you consider a friend or enjoy socializing with outside of work.

Flexible work arrangements. Be grateful for opportunities you to work from home, leave work early to attend to family matters, or benefit from a four-day work-week.

A mentor. We should always be thankful for those people who have taught, guided, and mentored us along the way in our lives, education, and in our jobs. A good mentor should not be taken for granted, and he or she likely played an important role in where you are now in your life and career.

The occasion to advance in your career and to develop your skills. A great workplace enables you to gain new knowledge, enhance your skills, and provides opportunities for advancement. Be grateful for these opportunities at work.

These five areas can offer you the chance to reflect on your current job, be thankful for the positive aspects of your work, and can help you consider whether a change in scenery might be better for your career.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 8 Things Not to Do In Your First Year at Work

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 Financial Diet recommends 8 things to avoid doing in your first year on the job, including not eating lunch at your desk. Check out the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: The 3 Best Ways to Avoid Career Burnout

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 3 Best Ways to Avoid Career Burnout:"I've seen many high-potential individuals burn out in a flame of glory because they couldn't pace themselves. Don't be that person! Your hard work and long hours are only worth it if you can enjoy yourself throughout the process."

• 9 CEOs Share Their Favorite Productivity Hacks: "Here are nine tricks successful CEOs use to squeeze more productivity out of themselves and their employees."

• How Building Relationships Helps Build Business: "A big part of building successful relationships in the workplace is hiring the right people, but even more important—and often more challenging—is being able to surrender control over every aspect of the business."

• 5 Tweaks to Your Daily Routine to Double Energy & Productivity: "If you desire to create more energy and become more productive, start with addressing the tiny and everyday habits before adding more complex tactics to your life."
• 9 Bad Habits That Can Lead to Unhappiness: "Changing your habits in the name of greater happiness is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. But it’s also important for another reason—taking control of your happiness makes everyone around you happier, too."

5 Go-To Resources When You Need Motivation & Inspiration

If you spend much time on social media or following the lives of “successful” people, you might wonder if you’re the only person experiencing times of self-doubt or suffering from lack of confidence.

Fortunately, many of the “successful” people are vulnerable enough to share their own insecurities and doubts but it can be easy to dismiss this: sure, it’s easy to acknowledge you once doubted when you’re at the top.

We all—even the highly successful—experience periods of self-doubt and times when we know longer feel inspired. It’s important to have strategies for dealing with these times and it’s also good to have go-to inspirational quotes to turn to when you’re struggling.

There are no one-size-fits-all inspirational quotes. What might move and motivate me might make you yawn. And vice versa. So here, instead, are five lists (along with one quote from each list) you can look over and create your own playlist of motivational hit quotes.

17 Motivational Quotes to Inspire You to Be Successful: “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.”

Best Motivational Quotes to Prepare You for Any Challenges in Life: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”

56 Inspirational Quotes for Success in Life: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

43 Motivational Quotes to Start Your Day: "I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done." – Lucille Ball

100 Motivational Quotes That Will Help You Succeed: "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

Where do you turn for inspiration when you need it?

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 7 Ways to Build Confidence

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 TopThink discusses 7 psychological tricks to help us build confidence. Check out the video for more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Manage Workaholism

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 Manage Workaholism:"Whatever the definition, the results of an unhealthy work obsession has some pretty serious long-term consequences."

• How Taking Risks Can Lead to the Biggest Successes of Your Career: "in order to get the best out of yourself, you have to put yourself into positions where you're uncomfortable or vulnerable."

• 7 Income Streams that Generate Passive Income: "If you want to build wealth or achieve your long-term financial goals, you have to diversify your income sources with multiple streams of income."

• 5 Mistakes to Remove from Your LinkedIn Profile: "It's no secret that if you want to get a job, hire great talent or network with the best, then LinkedIn is a solid place to start.."
• Office Design Tips That Will Increase Employee Productivity: "Sometimes the secret to getting work done—and motivating your employees to do the same—is in our environment.... Warm temperature, a certain level of ambient noise and natural lighting seem to increase productivity."

Four Ways to Manage Stress and Anxiety at Work

You have a big project coming up or you’ve taken on new responsibilities at work and you feel anxious. When we encounter something new or have an increased workload if is easy to feel overwhelmed.

But you don’t have to through it alone and there are ways to manage the stress without going crazy at work, quitting your job, or kicking the dog.

If stress and anxiety is getting you down at work, implement the following four practices. 

Identify any patterns related to your stress. If you can find specific patterns to your stress and anxiety it becomes easier to develop some strategies to deal with it. For example, if you notice more intense stress on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings as you begin to turn your attention back to your job, you can be better prepared to face the work week. Perhaps the anxiety increases in the lead up to making a presentation at work. This information can lead you to decide to take a public speaking class at the local college, or join the Toastmasters, or avoid procrastinating and have the presentation prepared a few days in advance to allow time to get comfortable. Once you’ve identified patterns related to the stress and anxiety you experience you also help to reduce its power over you.

Discuss the situation with your supervisor. Don’t be shy about asking for help. Oftentimes we don’t want to admit to feeling stress at work because we don’t want our manager to think we’re incompetent or unable to handle the job. However, it’s necessary and important to our growth as a person and as an employee to learn to seek out help when needed. Your boss can likely offer some suggestions or tips that can reduce your stress, and sometimes it just helps to have someone lend an ear.  

Take care of your health. Our physical health plays an important role in dealing with stress and anxiety in our lives. Be sure to get enough sleep, engage in some movement and exercise daily, and be intentional about the foods we eat and the drinks we consume. Alcohol and coffee can negatively impact our sleep, while also contributing to a sense of grogginess or jitters during the day. Also consider adding time in your schedule for a brief meditation practice.  

Seek out professional help if necessary. At times we can feel overwhelmed the stress and anxiety and are unable to see a way out of it. If this describes you, seek out a counselor or therapist. You can likely find a good one in your area who is specially trained to treat anxiety and stress.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 10 Essential Life Skills You Need to Learn Right Now

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 Financial Diet discusses ten life skills we all need to learn, starting with how to manage our money. Check out the video for more.

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."