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."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: The Most Important Skill for the 21st Century

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 Most Important Skill for the 21st Century: "
  When people embrace lifelong learning, assimilating new skills isn’t a source of fear and stress—it’s just another part of their career journey
  ."

• Free Online Courses That Will Boost Your Career: "there are some that can help any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, teaching you such valuable skills as how to create a product, get a startup off the ground, or perform app marketing."

• The Unbelievable Power of Belief Systems: "If you are convinced that something is unattainable, you will be unable to reach it no matter how hard you work."

• How to Prevent Burnout: "Burnout happens when people aren’t given enough time to disconnect, rest, focus on other aspects of life and recharge."
• 5 Secrets of Success According to Jeff Bezos: "Make a list of your big-vision items. Frame it and keep it accessible. Those are your uncompromisable items. Everything else is negotiable."

5 Ways to Excel in Your Career (and Life) in 2017

As you've entered the new year you've likely set some goals for yourself in 2017 and, if you're like many people, a goal or two is related to your job and career. Of course, we can start the new year with good intentions and then quickly find ourselves discouraged and failing to meet our goals.

Consider the following five ways to stay on track with your goals and to excel in your career and job in 2017.

1. Automate when possible. Find ways to increase your productivity and create additional time in your schedule by automating as many tasks as possible. Use an app to manage your budget or to organize your email. There is, really, an app for everything so you have an opportunity to better manage and control some of the many tasks that dominate modern life.

2. Start a side gig. If you've always wanted to work for yourself or start a business now is the time. Set aside a few hours every week to work on this: develop a business plan, create a web site, offer your services as a freelancer, or start making that product you've dreamed of.

3. Go back to school. Start taking a class or two toward earning a new degree or certificate. You can even learn online or informally by reading some books by experts in your field of interest.

4. Be mindful of your health. Unfortunately, many of us don't pay enough attention to our health and don't realize that we can be much more successful in work and life, and increase our productivity if we focus on our health. Take a look at your diet and eat more healthily, be sure to be active and exercise, have a consistent spiritual practice, such as meditation, get enough sleep, and reduce alcohol and caffeine.  

5. Build a support system. None of us can succeed on our own so be sure to develop your support system. Your support group should ideally include co-workers, friends, family, a supervisor at work, and a mentor or two.

Considering a Career Change? Here are 8 Steps to Take

Career changes and transitions can be scary and feel overwhelming, especially if they are forced upon us through a layoff. It's much easier to begin to make that transition for ourselves, and on our own schedule and terms.

If you are contemplating a career change there are steps you can take to ease the transition and help you feel ready to take the plunge.

Here are eight steps to making a career transition:

1. Meet with a career counselor. The first step you might consider is to meet with a career counselor and discuss your training, skills, experience, and interests. The counselor can help you explore the career options that would be most suitable and help you develop a plan to get there.

2. Take a skills or interest assessment. Identifying your skills and interests will help clarify your direction and this can be done with a career counselor or on your own.

3. Job shadow. Once you've identified a job or career area of interest consider spending a few hours job shadowing someone currently working in that field. This will help you get a clearer sense of the job and whether it matches your interests and skills.

4. Research education or certification requirements. Some jobs or careers require you to attain a specific level of education or to have state certification. Find out if you need to supplement your education.
 
5. Take a class. You might need additional education for certification requirements (see above) or you just might need to update your skills or learn a new technology. If so, consider signing up for a class at your local community college.

6. Online training. There are many opportunities to take free classes online and you might find something to increase your skills as you consider your new career.

7. Seek guidance from a mentor. Talk to someone you trust and get their advice and counsel about your career and possible plans for a change.

8. Network. Work to expand your network of contacts, especially in fields related to those you're considering for your career change.

5 Tips to Stay Motivated During Your Job Search

When you are between jobs it can be difficult to stay positive and focused on the job search, especially if you are regularly applying for jobs and seeing very little results.

Consider implementing some of the following tips to help you stay motivated throughout your job search:

1. Eat well. To remain motivated and positive about your job search it's important to eat foods that promote well-being, strength, and energy. Avoid too much alcohol and foods with a lot of sugar.

2. Exercise regularly. Staying (or getting) in shape with regular exercise will give you the energy you need to attack those daily tasks necessary to the job search.

3. Get enough sleep. In addition to regular exercise and healthy eating habits, getting enough sleep each night provides the daily rest and recharge needed to successfully find new work opportunities.

4. Learn something new every day. Schedule at least 15-30 minutes every day to learn something .

new or enhance your existing skills.You can learn a new language or explore the many opportunities through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).

5. Connect with one person every day. Looking for a job can be a lonely and isolating experience. Take some time each day to interact with a friend or meet someone new. You can do this through Facebook or Linkedin but don't underestimate the benefits of meeting someone new in person at the library, the local coffee shop, or even at a planned networking event.

What do you do to stay motivated?

For more check out this list of 20 ways to stay motivated during your job search.

Three Steps to Direct Your Learning-For Free

When we think of "education" what typically comes to mind is the traditional "sit in a classroom and be lectured at while occasionally taking a test or writing a paper" method of delivery. This has been ineffective in helping adults learn. Adults not only need to be exposed to masterful content in an engaging way but must possess a strong drive to learn it as well as a means to relate what they are learning to their own lives. You don't need to take expensive university classes to learn something new that will benefit your career. Follow these steps to not only find free online places to grow your knowledge in a subject area, but to practice it.

1. Get clear about the what and the whys: Before you begin, focus on not the what you will learn (i.e. "computer programming") but why you are learning it. This is crucial because when you are struggling to create time for what you're learning or are feeling unmotivated, the whys will help center and focus you. On a piece of paper or index card, write down your answers to these questions: Who am I trying to be that learning this will help me to become? What will this learning allow me to do that fulfills me? What will my life be like after I have learned this? Keep these available to you to keep your motivation and level of engagement as high as possible.

2. Find your avenue to learning: There is a revolution happening online with many avenues of free learning cropping up in many places. For example, Khan Academy is a website with 2,500 videos on subjects ranging from mathematics to art history...all for free for you to learn at your own pace, whenever you want. Some renown universities-including MIT and UC-Berkeley-have crated free online course content that can be viewed online or downloaded as podcasts. Speaking of podcasts, iTunes U features lectures from hundreds of colleges and universities that can be downloaded and viewed whenever you want. And, even with all of these wonderful online resources, don't forget about an old institution dedicated to furthering your knowledge-your public library. Once you know your why the what is where you should focus.

3. Practice: You know why you are learning and you know what you are learning...you now only need to apply it to make it stick. Practice can take many forms; the only requirement is to do it. For example, you may be teaching yourself HTML or Java or any other programming language. To prove your proficiency, write some code! Create sample webpages or programs to show others. If you are learning art history, volunteer at a local arts facility to demonstrate your passion for and knowledge of the subject. If mathematics is more your thing, tutor schoolchildren or college students to help them become more proficient in the subject you've been studying. Teaching others is a great way to not only practice but to solidify your learning through helping others.

Don't get caught in the mindset that the only way to learn something is to take classes...direct your own learning through your drive and initiative. You can become just as proficient...and save a buck.