10 ways to make your Monday morning better

10 ways to make your Monday morning better by Michael Cheary It’s that time again: Monday morning.The weekend is over. Saturday is officially not coming back. Your alarm clock is just getting into a five day groove, and sleeping is no longer a viable option.To help you get through the day, here are our top tips to make your Monday mean more:1. Get up earlierIf you really want to change your Monday mindset, start as you mean to go on.Try waking up ten minutes earlier, and slow your morning routine right down.  No more brushing your teeth in the shower, or doing your make-up on the train, can only be a good thing. Multitasking is overrated anyway…2. Get up laterOk, you’ve skipped number one. Turns out you’re not so much of a morning person. That’s cool. We all have different strengths. If yours involves a snooze button, a flannel wash and a mad dash to the station, who are we to judge?Take full advantage of any flexible working hours offered. And if they’re not? There’s always the late shift…3. Eat break fastThe nutritional and mental benefits of the day’s first meal are well-documented. What isn’t quite as well documented is just how easy a gourmet breakfast can be on-the-go.There’s brioche, baps, bagels. Let’s face it, bacon practically cooks itself*.4. Dont go back to sleepFeel like you can’t function without an extra half an hour doze on the way into Charing Cross? Change it. You’ll only end up waking up in a foul mood, possibly covered in a puddle of your own dribble.Fight the temptation to slip into slumber, and you’ll feel better for it. The person who sits next to you certainly will.5. Make more of your commuteIf you’re bored on the bus, why not put your sudden lack of stimulation to good use? Read a book you’ve always put off, or learn a new skill while you’re stuck in traffic.(N.B. Binge-watching box-sets also counts)6. Make someones dayRandom acts of kindness are cool. Also, surprisingly easy. So buy the next person in line a coffee, or pay the cashier a compliment. It will make you feel good, and it will make them feel good. It’s basically science.7. Make Monday your cheat day‘My diet starts on Monday’. This is a common refrain, often uttered by unrealistic people. But face facts: if you’re trying to battle the Monday blues, the last thing you need is a few ropey bits of kale and a Cuppa Soup.Eat like a king on Monday, and make your diet Tuesday’s problem.8. Remind yourself about other successful MondaysSuccessful things that have happened on a Monday: man first walked on the moon; the UK’s first cinema opened; the Deathstar was blown up (probably). The list is practically endless.Just think of it this way: if Mondays never existed, there would be no lifts and worse, there would be no Bullseye (both invented on a Monday). Remember that next time you’re running late for a rooftop meeting with Jim Bowen.9. Put things in perspectiveGlobal warming. Deforestation. The fact that Justin Bieber exists. To paraphrase the gr eat Mr.Z, there are many problems in the world, but Monday ain’t one… isn’t one… You get the idea.You may be sleepy. You may lack motivation. You may have even forgotten your umbrella on the day you finally brave the suit/short combo. But no matter how bad your day is, it could almost always be worse. If all else fails, hey, at least it’s not Wednesday.10. Find a Monday happy placeThe sure-fire way to ensure your Monday morning morale remains high is to make it stand out. Think of all the things which make you happiest, and find ingenious ways to work them into your day.It could be making an inspiring playlist for your morning commute, going for lunch with an old friend, or bookmarking something interesting to read on your lunch. The choice is yours.Our go-to move is ordering something to arrive at our desk bright and early. Mondays may not be able to buy you happiness, but money can…Still not convinced? Sometimes it’s not Monday, it’s you. Find a job worth waking up for now.*For your own personal safety, reed.co.uk must point out that bacon will not cook itself.  Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Features

What I learned from communication coaching

What I learned from communication coaching My cousin had a karaoke party. I had to go because hes my cousin, but I refused to sing because this would have pained the audience even more than it would have pained me. A woman at the party, however, impressed me by engaging the crowd even though she had no apparent singing talent. It turned out that this woman, Lindy, is a Sanford Meisner-trained actress who works for a consulting firm, teaching executives how to strengthen business relationships by using acting techniques. The course costs $275 an hour. I signed up. At our first session, Lindy explained the premise: Acting and leading are both about establishing a relationship with an audience and making them believe in you. My first assignment was to memorize a short speech Aint I a Woman, by Sojourner Truth. I loved the speech, but I hated having to memorize it, and I dreaded having to recite it in front of Lindy. Then I remembered what Lindys boss said at the beginning of the course: This program is best suited to high-level executives with enough self-confidence to explore leadership techniques that might feel silly at first. I wanted to fit into this self-confident high-level executive category, so I forced myself to show up for the second meeting. I bombed. I couldnt remember the speech. Lindy told me to think less about the speech and more about connecting with her, my audience. Finally, when I looked at her the way I look at my husband when I need him to pick up the dry cleaning, she was satisfied. I may have gotten the look down, but my delivery was still off. Lindy instructed me to reengage her whenever I sensed I was losing her. So I started over. She stopped me immediately. You cant just start over, she said. Leaders stick with their audience and fight to get them back. How do I do that? I asked. Take a risk, she said. In acting, one might ad-lib; in business, one can ask a rhetorical question. So I did, and then started talking right away. She pointed out that a good leader is comfortable with a long pause, which shows trust that the audience is thinking. Speaking too fast doesnt allow the audience to absorb or interpret, killing any chance of making a connection. My biggest problem, according to Lindy, was wanting to appear like a cool and hip leader and not paying attention to my audience. I made it about me instead of about them. Pretend youre an evangelist preacher, she said, because preachers excel at engaging listeners. I continued to give my speech, adding after every few sentences, Can I get an Amen? I felt more and more pathetic as Lindy sat in stony silence, ignoring my bleating pleas. Then I realized that if I didnt care about what I was saying, no one else would. You really have to want an Amen to get one, and finally I did. After this breakthrough, the sessions became easier. The principles of theater and management are the same: A director and a manager both have to lead in ways that allow for and encourage a persons best, most creative self. Managing is about performing, which takes practice, energy, and concentration. The basics are these: Believe your material. Know your audience. Engage them, so they are invested in what you have to say. And for those of you who are not yet managers, acting like a manager is the first step toward becoming one.

Unleash Google® Search to Find Most Open, Posted Jobs - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Unleash Google ® Search to Find Most Open, Posted Jobs - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career In “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!, we reveal many of the “secrets” that “headhunters” use each and every day to effectively place top talent with companies.  In this blog, I am going to share yet another “secret,” and this one deals with how you can quickly and very easily use the tremendous search power of Google ® to find ALL (or at least most) open jobs in today’s job market. (I say most jobs because, as I’ve pointed out in several recent blogs, not all jobs are in fact ever postedâ€"anywhere. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that as many as 50% to 80% of all possible jobs are never posted, for a whole variety of reasons that are somewhat beyond the scope of this blog. This blog, then, will deal with those “real” jobs that are actually out there for today’s qualified job seekers.) Here is the “secret” for finding all (or most) open jobs, by job type and preferred location, in today’s job market: Go to www.google.com In the search cell, type this command: site:jobs (no space between the words), followed by the type of position you seek and then the preferred job location. Here is how your entry should look in the search cell: site:jobs position location For example, let’s say you are looking for an accounting position in the Atlanta, GA, area. Here is the information you would type into the Google ® search cell: site:jobs accounting Atlanta GA As this is being written, this particular search string returns approximately 72,000 results, quite probably a lot more results that you would care to deal with. Let me show you how to significantly narrow your search. Let’s assume that you are a seasoned, experienced accountant and you are really interested only in senior accounting positions. Wading through 72,000 possible positions to locate the jobs most suitable for you obviously wouldn’t be very efficientâ€"or very desirable! No problem, you would merely employ quotation marks in your search string to further narrow your search, as illustrated below: site:jobs “senior accountant” Atlanta GA This search will return approximately 4,400 results, a far more manageable and much more targeted number of potential, suitable position. (Significant to note, however, is that if you do not include the quotation marks, over 6,800 results would be returned.) Of course you can also employ the various Boolean operators (AND, NOT, etc.) in your search string to construct and further refine your job search. Theoretically, precisely just how much you can narrow your job search really is limited only to the creativity and ingenuity incorporated into your search string. For example, let’s suppose that you are searching not only for senior accounting positions in the Atlanta, GA, area, but, since it is part of your unique professional brand, you are also interested in locating open positions requiring experience with Sarbanes-Oxley (a Federal Act which introduced major change to the regulation of corporate governance and financial practices) accounting practices and principles. Here is how you would could create your Google ® search string to locate such open positions in Atlanta: site:jobs “senior accountant” Sarbanes-Oxley Atlanta GA Only seven major results are returned for this search, which obviously significantly narrowed this search! This little “secret” is simple, powerful and quite effective. Once you’ve identified positions that are potentially of interest to you, you can then begin applying online. But I strongly recommend that you NOT limit your activities strictly to online applications. You should also begin identifying the decision-makers for these positions, and there are effective ways of doing precisely that, but this topic, too, is beyond the scope of this blog. Once you’ve targeted jobs you want to pursue using the Google ® search featured in this blog, and once you’ve identified the applicable decision-makers, you should seriously consider using an approach that is working especially well in today’s job marketâ€"the direct mail letter campaign. (Go to this link to learn more about creating and executing an effective direct mail campaign: Frustrated by Post and Hope Job Hunting? Try This!) This approach can brand you as a savvy professional, as someone who is ideally suited for the position, and as someone who can bring genuine value to the hiring company. It will also separate you from virtually all of the other candidates, most of whom will in fact only apply online! Author: Skip Freeman  is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!  and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of  The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

4 Ways to Promote Gender Equality in the Workplace

4 Ways to Promote Gender Equality in the Workplace Despite the strides we have made in gender equality, female workers still get paid less than their male counterparts, with women significantly underrepresented in senior management roles. Discrimination and unequal pay is illegal, but the facts show that we still face huge obstacles in equal opportunities, and employers play a vital role in overcoming these hurdles. The glass ceiling is hard, but surely  breakable, and through a number of actions, your company can cast  the stones  to the invisible barriers. 1. Transparency in the pay gap The gender pay gap remains a prominent issue, and the clearest example of gender equality at the workplace.  Openness and transparency with pay figures in your company is the first step in tackling any workplace inequalities identified. Assessing where men and women do work of equal value and re-structuring the difference between those unjustified gaps is one start. However to really understand the causes, you need to reflect on the figures more broadly. Transparency will cast light on the need for change, but like the small nudge of the ball, is only the very beginning of closing the pay gap. In most cases gender pay disparity cannot be resolved by a simple matter of adjusting pay figures. The results are not necessarily that of unequal pay, but reflects a much wider field of failures in balancing opportunities for women. 2. Acknowledge and challenge your own bias In order to overcome gender inequality we must address our own bias. Gender related bias that hold women back can include outright discrimination to deep-rooted unconscious attitudes. The normalisation of everyday sexism has lead to an invisible gender bias that we often don’t recognise. Human beings don’t know how to be wholly unbiased; from the classroom to the boardrooms at an early age, we are conditioned to believe that girls are this way and boys are that way. It’s about challenging these ‘natural’ thoughts by examining, questioning and having open conversations. Basic anthropology tells us that groups tend to recruit new members who are similar to themselves. So a predominantly male field will often choose a male candidate. This is an influential factor in why women are significantly underrepresented in traditionally male-dominated areas, and senior positions. Changing our bias in recruiting is integral, and admitting our own bias is an important step to a more open, diverse and fair workplace. This is everyone’s issue men and women, and extends to women’s own limiting self-beliefs. 3. Foster the next female leaders Although men and women have an equal level of ambition early on in their careers, the absence of strong role models and mentors throughout a woman’s professional development can have a significant impact on how she views her own capabilities and career prospects later in life. If they don’t believe they can reach a leading position at high level, then they don’t invest the time to structure their career plan to attain it.  Introduce coaching and mentoring programs to provide women with opportunities to assess professional growth, develop their leadership skills, and identify a strategy to achieve this. Although it may be tempting to solve gender inequality by concentrating on women, gender inclusiveness should involve both men and women, as initiatives involving only half of the population will likely have reduced results. 4. Support parents Recent research has shown that the gender pay gap is closing for young workers, but widens severely among working mothers as they effectively suffer a pay penalty. One of the major barriers that prevent women from reaching to the top of their career is the lack of childcare support. Again this ranges from complete stigma to deep-seated traditions in the role of mothers.  Employer’s play a vital role in supporting mothers; work together to agree on a fair and balanced workplace goal that will drive productivity, whilst allowing flexibility and remote working where possible. Progression and promotions are considerably more difficult to achieve when you take time off, which has a disproportionate effect on women who continue to hold the lion’s share of childcare responsibility. To relieve working mothers of the domestic and childcare burden, parental leave for fathers should be promoted. Not only will this allow mothers to invest more time in their careers, but research has shown that fathers want to be more engaged and involved in child care duties. Like all the previous points, gender equality involves both men and women; supporting female talent, and working together, equally.

How to Write a Nasp Resume

How to Write a Nasp ResumeNasp is a great company to use when you need a resume or your dream job. There are a few things that will help you with this type of resume writing, so if you have a creative streak, you will want to keep reading. This first article is going to give you the basics and tips on writing a resume that is easier and faster to write. The most important thing is that you have a high quality resume and cover letter to send out and get your dream job.First off, when writing an asp resume, be sure to check your spelling and grammar skills. This is very important and if you're not sure how to check yourself, take some time to do it. Remember, your resume will be being read and seen by hundreds of potential employers, so any mistakes you make will be noticed quickly. It is also important to read through and know what you want to say before you start writing.When writing an asp resume, try to keep the headings to the point and simple. If you have a long list of achieveme nts, think about limiting them to one per paragraph. That way, when people skim your resume, they will get a short list. Try to keep this as short as possible and go over each section in your head a few times to make sure that your bullets all make sense and that they match the rest of the resume.Keep the focus of your Nasp resume on the skills and abilities that you have. Do not include everything, just use bullet points for the key skills that are really going to help you with the position that you are looking for. Always remember to include your education and training, even if you are doing the experience section.Another tip for your Nasp resume is to include some pictures. Your resume will look much better if it shows your picture, so why not put some on there? Some companies may also like to see some other kinds of media work, like video clips, news stories, etc.The last thing you can do is to include a personal statement at the end of your Nasp resume. Your personal statement should contain two to three sentences about why you are the right person for the job and what you can do for the company. This will come at the end of your letter to the employer. Keep it brief and to the point, but show that you know what you are talking about.One of the biggest problems that I found when writing my Nasp resume was that many people did not know how to finish the letter. A shorter version of the letter should be sent in and then you can make changes and add in your personal statement and you should be good to go.Don't worry too much about how to write a Nasp resume, as it's not as hard as you think. Just follow these few tips and you should be fine. With a little practice, you should be good to go.

5 Content Marketing Ideas to Help Boost Your Exposure

5 Content Marketing Ideas to Help Boost Your Exposure Did you know that content marketing is 62 percent cheaper than outbound marketing? Not to mention that it also generates  three times more leads as well. Companies who implement content marketingsee conversion rates that are more than six times those who only use traditional marketing. Its no secret that content marketing can benefit your business across the board, but how do you create a content marketing strategy that is successful? These five content marketing ideas are sure to help generate leads and grow your business. 1. Create FlawlessContent You should only be publishing your absolute best content in order for content marketing to work. This means no spelling errors, no grammar errors and your writing should be concise because no one wants to read content that isnt worth their time. Its more effective to post four immaculate posts a month as opposed to 20 average posts a month. And if you arent confident in your writing skills, you can always outsource blog postsfrom professionals. 2. Analyze Your Data Manypeople are under the impression that simply publishing blog posts will grab the entire worlds attention and leads will start generating immediately. As nice as this would be, content marketing doesnt necessarily work like that. Instead, you have to make an effort to analyze your data. And while web analytics can seem daunting, there are many helpful toolssuch as Google Analytics that makes this step incredibly easy. This is where you can analyze your audience to produce content that is specific to them and analyze web patterns to see what blogs are doing the best so you can recreate them. 3. Implement Backlinks Search engine optimization is vital to a strong content marketing strategy. And one way to improve your SEO and the way that Google ranks you is to build a good backlink profile. This means that your links are located on other websites, which promotes trust and credibility to your company. Backlinks are often considered the glue of a successful SEO campaign because they are essential for Google to determine the rating of your website. 4. Repurpose Your Content The goal with content marketing is to work smarter- not harder. And you can do exactly that byrepurposing your content.Good content takes a great deal of time, effort, research and editing to produce. But to save time, you can simply repurpose your content in multiple aspects to create brand-new content. Some ways that you can do this include turning your webinar into an email series ortake five of your blogs that have performed strongly and turn them into an e-book. 5. Implement Strong Calls-To-Action Also known as CTAs, calls-to-action are imperative to grow your company. Generally, your customers arent going to do something unless you tell them exactly what to do. The trick to a good CTA is to tell yourreaders that there is something in it for them. So telling your readers to sign up for your email list so they never miss an update is a simple yet effective CTA. Content Marketing Ideas Content marketing isnt as difficult as somepeople perceive, but it does take patience and dedication. But with the proper content marketing ideas, a fresh mind and a strong team, you will start to see leads flowing in and conversion rates rising in no time. Take a look at our business articles for more expert advice on how to grow your business.

The #1 mistake - or your happiness is not (only) about you - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

The #1 mistake - or your happiness is not (only) about you - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The most common?mistake people make when?they seek?happiness (at work or in life) is that they focus on making themselves happy here and now. This almost always fails?because it becomes a meaningless, shallow pursuit of their?own short-term pleasure. True happiness on the other hand, comes from doing things to make many people (including yourself) happier in the long term. This is?illustrated by?one of the most consistent findings in positive psychology, namely that if you want to be happier yourself, the best way is to make someone else happier. Not as a quid-pro-quo, but from a realization that we are social beings and that your happiness cannot be meaningfully extracted from the happiness of everyone around you. And that goes in the workplace as well. If you want to be happy at work, focus more on making others (co-workers, customers, employees, vendors, random passers-by) happy by doing awesome work and by being an awesome person. If your workplace doesnt let you do that, you will never be happy there. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related