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."

Add These 5 Habits for Lifelong Career Success

It’s never too late (or too early) in your career to instill good habits into your work routine, and there are some basic habits for success that apply to any job or work environment you might encounter in your career.

Here are five habits to will help you build a track record of success in your life and career.

Focused, hard work. If you don’t have a practice of working hard, you’ll have a difficult time finding career success. Hard work should be the cornerstone of your work habits and should, obviously, be a given. But you can also work hard on the wrong things and it’s important to develop the ability to focus on a single task rather than allowing the distraction of multitasking.

Continuous learning. Regardless of the position you’re in, there is always room to learn more and to expand your knowledge, deepen your skill set, and expand your tool kit of expertise. This requires an attitude of humility and a commitment to seek out opportunities to learn more about your job and industry.

Positive approach. Taking a positive approach to your life by developing a habit of positive thinking and seeking out the best in others and every situation will enable you to create more success in your life and career. Others will want to work with you, and you’ll instill a sense of trust in your relationships that will build an effective and lasting network.

Seek out mentors. Successful people realize that they can not do it alone and they seek out mentors and others who they can learn from and who can be a support system along the way. Strong and successful individuals have a strong system of support, starting with a mentor who has their best interests at heart and isn’t afraid to be honest.

Attention to purpose. Lifelong career success comes from developing a clear sense of your purpose and seeking out work opportunities that fulfill that purpose. Successful people are not driven by the accumulation of wealth but seek to serve others through their skills, interests, and knowledge, and want to make a difference in the world.

Work to cultivate these habits in your work and life and you’ll be closer to having the successful career you want.

How to Experience More Joy at Work

It is possible to enjoy our work lives more than we do and it often requires just a few basic shifts in our thinking to provide us with a greater sense of purpose at work.

Unfortunately, sometimes we’re under great stress or we’ve been in a job for so long that we have difficulty seeing the beneficial aspects of our work or understanding ways to make it work better for us.

 Here are five ways to go about experiencing more joy in the work place.

Focus on the meaning you derive from your work. A key aspect to finding joy in your work is to recognize and celebrate the good that results from your job, the ways your products or services make life better for your customers and clients, and the difference your company makes in the world. If you cannot identify this important part of your job, then you might need to consider a job move. 

Cultivate positive relationships with your colleagues. It’s difficult to enjoy our work place if we don’t enjoy those we work with. Of course, you cannot control the behavior of others at work, but you can make every effort to develop good working relationships with your co-workers and manager. It will help if you seek to recognize the strengths in others rather than focus on their failures and shortcomings.

Recognize how your job makes you change and grow. If you’ve been in a job or at a company for several years you have changed during that time. You have developed new skills and grown in ways that it’s important to recognize. Take some time to appreciate this growth and it will help you to experience greater satisfaction in your job.

Use your job to strengthen your weaknesses. You can look at your job as a laboratory and a place to make improvements. Be clear about the areas you need to work on, whether related to job skills or character traits, such as patience, and seek to measure your development. Paying attention to self-improvement on your job can add a level of enjoyment to your work experience.  

Pay attention to your attitude. There are a lot of things we can’t control at work, but we always have the ability to take control of our attitude and the ways we respond to the events on the job. Greater enjoyment at work is more likely when we approach our job and our relationships with our colleagues with curiosity, and a positive and helpful attitude.

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.  

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 8 Things to Do Daily to Be Happier & More Successful

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!

• 8 Things to Do Daily to Be Happier & Live with Less Regret:"A good place to start is to take inventory of the things in your life that bring you joy or which have caused you regret."

• 9 Reasons Companies Should Hire Introverts, Not Extroverts: "Creativity is a problem-solving response by intelligent, very active, highly emotional, and extremely introverted persons."

• To Land a Great Job, Talk About Why You Love Your Work: "candidates interviewing for a job should highlight the meaning they derive from their work, and recruiters looking to attract job candidates should emphasize that their employees do work they love."

• 3 Powerful Goals for a Healthy & Happy Future: "I’ve read that common regrets of those on their deathbed are that they didn’t spend enough time with family or friends, that they traveled more, or took more chances."
• Top 3 Fears That Keep Midlife Professionals Trapped in Unhappy Work: "But fear about career change disguises itself in a myriad of confusing ways that we don’t recognize as fear."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 3 Questions to Ask of Your Life & Career

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, Brendon Burchard recounts how a tragic heartbreak and a near-death experience led him to discover the three most important questions you can ask yourself.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 7 Steps to Stay Motivated for the Long Haul

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!

• 7 Steps to Stay Motivated for the Long Haul: "For a resolution to stick, it must be aligned with your core values and hold deep personal meaning that you connect with on a deep emotional level."

• 5 Ways to Pursue the Job You Want: "Mentoring has many personal benefits, too. Learning to listen, to creatively approach problems or explanations, or to work with people who are different from you are all important leadership skills you’ll need in order to advance."

• 8 Steps to Stay Focused and Reach Your Goals: "Instead of trying to do a million things at once, take a step back and tackle one task at a time. And while your inclination might be to start your day with busy work ... get your brain moving by challenging yourself with with a bigger, more creative endeavor first thing."

• 7 Ways to Overcome Toxic Self-Criticism: "The best way to change the channel is by getting active. Find an activity that will temporarily distract you from the negative tapes playing in your head. Go for a walk, call a friend to talk about a different subject, or tackle a project you've been putting off. But refuse to listen to your brain beat you up."
• 15 Habits That Could Be Hurting Your Business Relationships: " It’s hard to convey your investment in a conversation if you’re glancing at your phone every 30 seconds. Always be sure to give people your undivided attention."

Five Tips to Develop Mental Strength

Sun Tzu noted that “victorious warriors win first” in the mind before going to battle. Our society prizes physical strength while neglecting the significance of mental strength and its role in our happiness and success in our careers and in our relationships with others.

In addition to your physical health, pay attention to your mental health and strength by implementing the following practices.

Be clear on your purpose. What is your “why”? What gets you up in the morning and motivates you? To be mentally healthy it is crucial to have a strong and clear sense of what you bring to the world and how you can use your strengths and skills to make the world a better place. This will give you focus as you consider career options and enables you to keep your purpose in mind when going through the inevitable difficult times.

Train your thoughts. We all have negative thoughts and it’s impossible to completely banish them but mentally strong people have developed strategies for dealing with them when encountered. These strategies can include a daily meditation practice, time spent in prayer, or the repetition of an affirming mantra. Training your thoughts also means to “win first” by visualizing events, such as that big speech or presentation at work, and working through a positive outcome in your mind , anticipating challenges and meeting them successfully.

Step into discomfort and tackle difficult tasks. Hug the monster. Embrace hard and scary things. Volunteer to lead the project or agree to give that speech. Make the phone call that makes you nervous. Start your morning with a cold shower. Walk instead of driving. Try something new and make mistakes.

Take full responsibility. This can be difficult and is an underappreciated aspect of mental strength. However, mentally strong people do not blame others for their failures or struggles. They take ownership of their lives and use failure as a motivation to learn more and work harder and smarter.

Surround yourself with mentally strong people. To develop mental strength, you need mentally strong people in your life. This might not be the people who are physically present in your life on a daily basis. You might need to seek out a mentor or adviser to meet with regularly, or find podcasts or audio books by wise men and women. Of course, read books and essays that build your mental strength. There are many creative ways to discover and surround ourselves with the counsel of a mentally strong community.

Implement these five practices to build mental strength and you will begin to see positive changes in your life and career.

How to Measure Success in Your Career

It can be discouraging to look around and compare your career standing with that of successful entrepreneurs and career experts touting their accolades and wisdom on social media. You might even be tempted to compare your situation to that of some of your colleagues.

Resist the temptation!

When it comes to your career success you should only look to yourself and measure your success based on the following factors.

Your opportunities to advance or develop in your career. You’ll experience your career as successful if you have opportunities to move up in the company, earn a job promotion, and continue to expand your range of influence. 

 

Your opportunities to develop new skills. A successful career is one that changes and avoids stagnation. It is one where you are able to learn new skills, develop in new areas, and be part of the innovations in your chosen field.

Your opportunities to live a healthy and well-balanced life. A successful career is one in which your career does not prevent you from making healthy choices, getting enough sleep, eating well, spending meaningful time with your family, being physically fit, and enjoying some recreation and leisure time.

Your opportunities to earn a liveable wage. You don’t need to be rich and famous. Resist the desire to base your career success on your paycheck and to compare your things with the things your neighbor owns. Instead focus on ensuring that you can meet your financial obligations and purchase items of value that you need and enjoy.

Your opportunities to live your values. If you are doing meaningful work that is consistent with your values and provides a sense of purpose you will likely feel a sense of deep satisfaction in your work. Strive to find work that brings value to your community and to the world and you will be a success in your career.

When you evaluate your career success don’t focus on status, titles, and salary. Instead, take a look at whether you have opportunities to advance, develop new skills, experience work-life balance, earn enough to live on, and are fulfilling your purpose.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Improve Your Life in 8 Steps

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 Improve Your Life in 8 Steps: "A vision forces you to be specific about what you’re going after, and once you have it, it becomes part of your identity and propels you into action each day."

• 9 Keys to a Happy Career Making Millions: "consider starting or joining a company that is socially conscious. Find one that gives back to the community. Alternatively, you can start volunteering."

• 9 Signs an Employee is Exceptionally Productive: "Effort without a genuine purpose is just effort. Effective people don't just know what to do--they know why. They have a long-term goal. They have short-term goals that support their long-term goals."

• Stop Letting Email Control Your Work Day: "In an era of fast-paced offices, instant gratification, and constant access, one of the most important things we can do personally and professionally is take a step back."
• 7 Places in the US So Cheap You Can Afford to Quit Your Job and Be an Entrepreneur: "there's a high-quality of living, good weather and fast internet....These are places where the cost of living is so cheap you can afford to quit your day job and become an entrepreneur."

5 Ways to Add Purpose and Meaning to Your Career

Many of us move through life and our work career deeply dissatisfied and without any sense of purpose. We might simply follow the paycheck or feel like we're sleepwalking through our work lives. Our career path might seem predetermined by our choice of college major or previous job experience but it's not too late to think about a more rewarding and purposeful direction.

If you want to live a more purposeful life or add more meaning to your career reflect on the following actions and considerations.

Identify your strengths and skills. You'll find the most enjoyment in your work if you're utilizing your strengths and the things you are good at. Spend some time to inventory your strengths and ask your friends and family to help you identify what you're good at.

Identify your passions. Do you love helping others? Or perhaps you enjoy solving problems and coming up with unique solutions. Do you love to travel? Spend some time thinking about the experiences that make you feel most alive and energized. Can you imagine a life or a career where can get up every day and do what you're passionate about?

Do no harm. You’ll feel a great sense of satisfaction and purpose when your life, career, and work choices do not bring harm or pain to the earth, other people, and to plants and animals. It is difficult to feel pride in your accomplishments or your work life when you contribute to spreading toxins or promoting unhealthy habits and choices.

  

Make a difference. Consider work that will make your community and the world healthier, safer, and more equitable for all. Does your company create products that pollute the air or advertise unhealthy food or products to children? Look for a career that contributes positively to the needs of the world, for a company that is solving the world’s problems in ways that don’t bring additional harm.  

  

Pass it on. Be a mentor. Your gifts and skills and talents were meant to be shared with others and provide you with an opportunity to teach someone else what you know. Pass on your knowledge and you can help multiple the good in the world.

You don’t necessarily need to change your job to change the world. There are opportunities all around, starting with your neighbor. If you look for ways to make a difference you will find them and begin to live a more rewarding a purposeful life and have a more satisfying career.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How to Find Your Higher Calling

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 Inc., Sprinklr founder Ragy Thomas talks about finding your higher calling in your career and moving beyond the barriers to it.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: What to Do When You and Your Boss Aren't Getting Along

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!

• What to Do When You and Your Boss Aren't Getting Along: "Am I working on the issues that my boss wants me to be working on, in the way they want me to be working on them? Have I been disregarding their feedback?"
• 10 Powerful Ways to Empower Your Employees: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, boundaries don't restrict team members; they empower them.
• The 4 Attributes You Must Develop to Achieve Everything You Want in Life: "If you finally want to live with more intention and purpose in your life or become an entrepreneur now and not later, then your extraordinary life is on the other side of your life-planning design process."
• Want Your Resume to Stand Out? Try This One Tactic: "Try getting back to basics. Work on a carefully crafted resume that highlights your results as well as your authenticity."
• How to Become the Leader You Need to Be: "Millennials are turning up ready to take their positions in management, but leadership doesn’t come easy and organizations could suffer as a result."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 4 Essential Career Tips for Millennials

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 Essential Career Tips for Millennials: "Traveling, especially to third world and developing countries will expose you to new cultures, new ways of living, and teach you more about yourself. Travel expands your personality, and gives you time to find a career path you’ll truly enjoy, more so than if you immediately took a job out of college."
• LinkedIns Top 3 Secrets to Getting Hired: "We’ve learned it’s not necessarily your best friend who’s going to help you land that next job. It's more likely to be your best friend’s former coworker, or even that coworker’s neighbor."
• 9 Bad Habits You Must Break to Be More Productive: "It takes you 15 consecutive minutes of focus before you can fully engage in a task. Once you do, you fall into a euphoric state of increased productivity called flow. Research shows that people in a flow state are five times more productive than they otherwise would be."
• 7 Things You Can Do to Build an Awesome Business Brand: "Brands that embody a deeper sense of purpose have a significant advantage over those that don’t — they have something to say and stand for, not just something to sell."
• 7 Ways to Persist When You Want to Give Up: "It can be easy to focus all your energy on reaching your ultimate goal. But if the only thing you can see is your end destination, you’ll miss the beauty of the journey along the way. The new experiences and welcome surprises provide much-needed fuel to keep going."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Motivation to Make a Difference

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.

Need some motivation to leave your mark on the world and do something with purpose and passion? Check out the video below from Absolute Motivation:

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 6 Essential Habits for Getting the Career You Want

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!

• 6 Essential Habits for Getting the Career You Want: "When you are externally focused on the impact you want to have, the game changes. You become intent on results more than personal applause."
• Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn During Your Job Search: "A strategic approach to building your network will help you get much more out of this professional social media site during your job search, potentially opening the doors to your next opportunity and beyond."
• 5 Ways to Experience Flow and Get Crazy Productive: "We thrive on a healthy challenge—something that stimulates us without being so difficult that it produces anxiety or so simple that it induces boredom."
• 4 Simple Steps to Getting Twice as Much Done in Half the Time: "Therefore, the first and most important step in getting more accomplished is to focus on the few tasks that move the needle."
• The Paradox of Workplace Productivity: "It’s time to start shifting to an organizational mindset and set of tools that can provide full visibility into what work is actually getting done in aggregate, and where it does (or doesn’t) create value."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 4 Ways to Become More Disciplined

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 Brendon Burchard offers four tips to become more disciplined, starting with a daily morning practice of bringing your attention to the benefits and payoffs of what you're working toward.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Career Questions to Ask Yourself

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 5 Career Questions to Ask Yourself: "You first need to decide what sort of life you want and what role work will play in it. You can then adjust your expectations and needs regarding your career."


• 3 Keys to Being Fully Charged: "It is easier to improve your own happiness — and the well-being of others — when you focus on doing it right now. Taking small, meaningful actions today is the best way to make changes."


• 10 Ways to Become a More Confident Person: "Confidence-building is a virtuous cycle. No one but you is in the driver’s seat. All you have to do is buckle up and try something you've never tried before."


• Purpose is Good for You and for Business: "We believe that if more institutions—from work places to educational systems—were to embed programs and policies into their work that consciously cultivate purpose-directed individuals, we would see more passionate, engaged and flourishing employees."


• 6 Ways Your Significant Other Can Boost Your Career: "It always seems to mean more when your significant other tells you that you are smart, capable and skilled at what you do."