High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 15 New Ideas for Your LinkedIn Profile

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!

• 15 New Ideas for Your LinkedIn Profile: "On LinkedIn, you’ve got more room to maneuver and more space for adding keywords. You can provide more information than you can on your CV. Amplify the things that matter most."

• Do You Have Determination?: "Perhaps you’ve resigned yourself to things being one way. But you shouldn’t give up hope. Enlist a partner who may have a different perspective and energy to get back on track."

• 3 Tips for Re-Engineering Your Office: "An elegantly elevated desk best enhances an employee’s output when it’s surrounded by the right stuff. If that stuff is other desks, consider their arrangement."

• How to Make Gratitude a Way of Life: "There are many ways to cultivate a disposition of thankfulness. One is to make a habit of giving thanks regularly—at the beginning of the day, at meals and the like, and at day’s end."
• 5 Inspiring Books to Give Businesswomen This Holiday:"Among my favorite gifts to give (or receive) are books. And below is a list of inspiring books, many of which I have given or plan to give to the women whose support I can't imaging doing business (or life) without."

5 Ways to Stay Healthy for Work During Cold and Flu Season

It’s that time of year when you might see your colleagues taking sick days at work and perhaps you’ve missed a day or two yourself. It’s cold and flu season and for every day you might miss because you’re sick, there are several other days you go in when you’re not feeling well, and when you’re ill you are unable to work at peak performance.

To excel at work, we need to pay attention to our health. Consider implementing these five ways to improve your health, boost your performance at work, and keep you healthy during cold and flu season.

Get a flu shot. Many workplaces offer the flu shot for free and provide an opportunity for employees to receive the shot at work. If your employer offers this make sure you get in line. Not only will you protect yourself from the flu, but you’ll also decrease the chance for others to get sick by being in contact with you.

Get adequate sleep. Getting adequate sleep provides many health benefits and studies have indicated that getting 7-8 hours of sleep reduces stress, increases creativity, improves memory, and sharpens attention, among other things. On the other hand, sleep deficiency has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Meditate. A brief, daily practice of meditation can result in significant health benefits such as reduced stress, better sleep, and perhaps even improved immune functioning. Meditation can also help you focus on positive and encouraging thoughts, which can lead to more joy and greater focus throughout the day.

Drink water and avoid alcohol. Staying properly hydrated is important to provide energy, strengthen muscles, improve skin, and keeps your gastrointestinal tract functioning healthily. As we’ve all heard, our bodies are mostly water and we need to drink enough daily to avoid fatigue, headaches, and other issues. Frequent alcohol consumption has many negative consequences and alcohol is a depressant; if you struggle with depression it can exacerbate it. To be at your best limit your alcohol intake.

Exercise or move 30 minutes. Our bodies are made to move, and we need to ensure some basic level of movement daily in order to stay healthy and strong, and to avoid illness. You don’t need to train like a professional athlete or body builder to see results. Get out and walk two miles on your lunch break, or bike in the morning before work … or, better yet, bike to work. Schedule this time every day just as you would any other important meeting. You’ll soon find that you have more energy and accomplish more throughout the day.

See your doctor. This is something that men often struggle with more than women. To stay healthy and to deal with an illness before it becomes more serious, be sure to see your physician for an annual exam. 

  

These basic strategies will help you feel stronger, and more energetic, and keep you healthy and on the job during cold and flu season.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 7 Habits That Destroy Productivity

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, Brian Tracy discusses 7 bad habits that destroy productivity, including not planning your day. Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Balance Work and 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 Balance Work and the Holidays: "Check if your company offers an employee assistance program. If you need to take time off to just recalibrate, that is perfectly okay."

• 10 Commitments to Live a Truly Accountable Life: "If you develop a strong personal belief in the importance of these commitments, and if you begin acting on those beliefs, you will benefit from them."

• 11 Ways to Be More Productive: "The restaurant business can be unrelenting, especially when you’re shuttling between five of them. Nonetheless, the chef, restaurant owner, and cookbook author says that the experience has an upside: It makes you an excellent problem solver."

• 7 Tips for Successful Delegating: "View it as a means to free up valuable time -- more hours you can use to act on your big ideas, grow your business and achieve greater success."
• 5 Steps to Turn Experience (and Failure) Into Wisdom:"They recognize that by knowing what they did to produce a great outcome, they can repeat the actions and duplicate the result. That’s wisdom too."

5 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic

In a work world where we’re expected to be available 24-7, it can be easy to become a workaholic and overly stressed. It’s important to make a conscious effort to stay in balance and implement processes in our life to better manage the workload.

Here are some steps to take to avoid becoming a workaholic. 

  

Manage expectations. Avoid a tendency to be a perfectionist or to think that you can do everything. Nothing is ever perfect, and no one can do everything. Set realistic expectations for the quality of the work that you do, the amount of time you will devote to a project, and the work you yourself will take responsibility for. Having clear and realistic expectations can help you avoid becoming a workaholic.

   

Delegate and ask for help. An important way to reduce stress is to ask for help when it’s needed and delegate whenever possible. There is no shame in needing help and it can be important for the development of others to provide opportunities.

Focus on health. If you’re focused on your health, getting enough sleep, eating well, and ensuring that you add exercise to your regimen, you’ll better recognize when you’re getting imbalanced in your work life and be better positioned to make changes to avoid overwork.

Unplug. Be sure to set aside time when you’re unavailable to your supervisor and colleagues, and unplug from your email, voice messages, and communication apps. Keep your weekends free of work and try to avoid work after a set time each evening.

Consider a job change. If you still find yourself struggling to avoid stress at work, and you’re overdoing things you might need to consider another job. Look into something that will be less demanding and allow for more balance in your life.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 3 Questions to Ask if You Want to Quit Your Job

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 Fast Company highlights three questions you should ask yourself if you're thinking of quitting your job, starting with "why do I feel the need to quit". Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 3 Ways You Block Success and What to Do About It

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 You Are Blocking Your Success and What to Do About It: "If you subconsciously believe that success will hurt your life, you will not be able to welcome it in and as a result, you’ll limit your potential. This is why mindset work is so important."

• What Problem Were You Created to Solve?: "You’re not fixing anything, necessarily; you’re building toward a solution—and not only that, but you were created for this purpose."

• 10 Ways to Overcome Your Fears: "Telling people about your dream also increases the likelihood that you will make it a reality. Some people will probably question your dream, so let this fuel your determination even more."

• Giving Employees a Reason to Feel Proud of Their Work: "by all means, give your people a raise and some perks. But also give them opportunities to build up their pride — and maybe even a chance to dance."
• 5 Soft Skills You Need to Succeed at Work:"The bottom line is that you’ll thrive in the job market if you have strong interpersonal skills. While there is a broad range of skills that can be called “interpersonal,” the following five are absolutely critical."

5 Ways to Recognize Success in Your Career

Success at work is not merely a matter of promotions and increased salary, though being accessible to our jobs 24-7 often makes it difficult to step back and evaluate success in any other way. But career success can be assessed in various ways.

Here are five ways to view your career success without considering your salary as the primary factor.

Added Responsibility. When you’ve gained the trust of your company and supervisor and have been handed additional responsibilities, such as new tasks or projects, managing an important account, or overseeing the work of others, you know you’ve attained a degree of success. You would not be provided these responsibilities without attaining the trust of your company, and your company’s trust in you is a strong indicator of your level of success.

Growing Network. In a successful career your network of contacts and colleagues expands, grows, and deepens regularly through networking events, working closely with colleagues and customers, and attending workshops and conferences.

Balance. You can view success through the lens of the balance you experience between your career and your personal life. This does not mean you never feel stressed, nor that you don’t take work home with you but that you are able to set aside your job when you need to recharge and are able to enjoy your family life and hobbies.

Job satisfaction. A strong indicator of your success is your satisfaction at work and people tend to be satisfied in their job when they are able to use their strengths, skills, and interests to do meaningful work that provides a positive benefit to society.

Learning Opportunities. No one likes to be stagnant in their job and career, and successful careers enable you to constantly learn and grow in your profession through continuing education, trainings, workshops, and on-the-job experience.

When you are successful in your job and career in these areas you will often discover that you are satisfied with the financial aspects of your career, too.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Write a Great Mission Statement

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 discusses how to approach writing a mission statement. This can be useful for you at a personal level or for your business. Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 4 Steps to Elevate Your Next Presentation from Good to Great

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 Steps to Elevate Your Next Presentation from Good to Great: "Professionals mistakenly assume that presentations are about the words you speak, and the words are so little of the message. It’s about how you move, the tone of your voice, and the stories you tell."

• 8 Life Lessons Learned from Traveling the World: "When you make one powerful decision, there’s no stopping it; that decision will impact every other part of your life and set off a chain reaction that helps you make other important decisions."

• A Counter-Intuitive Way to Build Resilience and Achieve Success: "When it comes to long-term success, remember that it’s not how many home runs you hit that counts. It’s how many at-bats you take."

• Why Groups Struggle to Solve Problems Together: "In order for groups to collaborate effectively and avoid talking past one another, members must simultaneously occupy the same problem-solving stage."
• 7 Strengths and Habits of Successful People:"A strong vision serves as a guideline to keep them motivated and on track to achieving their goals. They set and conquer smaller goals first and then move on to bigger and bolder benchmarks so they can hit larger targets."

4 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Long-Standing Job

Stability is a good quality when it comes to your career and it’s always good to know you have a job waiting for you on a Monday morning. However, the grass sometimes seems greener at the other company and when you’ve grown stale in your job, you might consider the allure of going elsewhere.

Before leaving your long-standing job consider the following factors:

Colleagues. There are workplaces where the people you work with are one of the best perks of the job. If you work with a close and supportive team you might think twice before starting over in a new workplace.

Opportunity. Do you have opportunities for advancement in your current job or have you reached a plateau? You might want to have a conversation with your supervisor about your career plans and goals before making the decision to leave. Things can change rapidly in business and sometimes opportunities open up that you did not expect or seek.

Restructuring. It can be extremely stressful to go to work if your company has had a series of layoffs or has been restructuring departments. However, moving to a new company doesn’t necessarily reduce the risks of a layoff and you might even feel more at risk if you’re the new person on the job. Consider whether you’re ready to give up the seniority you’ve earned from the time you’ve put in at your current job.

Benefits. There are many other factors to consider when thinking about moving on from your job. Is it likely you’ll end up with a longer commute? Will a move to a new company impact your retirement savings or the amount your new company contributes to your retirement? What is the work environment like? Can you take time off when you need it? Be sure to carefully access everything you’ll give up or change by leaving a long-standing job.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 13 Habits for Creating 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 TopThink presents 13 habits for creating a successful life and career, starting with reading for at least 30 minutes a day. Check out the video to learn more.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

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 Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: "Choosing courage, in all its forms, challenges our preconceived notions and expands our comfort circle. As your comfort circle increases, so does your willingness to tackle bigger risks."

• 10 Ways to Cultivate Fearlessness: "When you’ve cut calamities off at the pass, you can let go of your fears about them, and you’ll redirect your focus and power to the task at hand."

• Why You Should Start a Weekly Planning Session: "I recommend doing this on Friday afternoons around 2 p.m. when your brain is done bringing its intellectual/creative A game for the week."

• Why Likable Leaders Seem More Effective: "teams who like their leaders will be happier at work, go above and beyond what is required of them, experience greater well-being, and perform at a higher level."
• How to Impress the New CEO in Your First Meeting:"Reading the CEO’s book, essays or published papers will give you an edge in your career—whether you’re interviewing for a job or meeting the new chief executive for the first time."