Effective Communication in the Land of Endless Emails
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Kenneth McCall is director of IT for storage.com.
I love email. It gives me a running record of who said what when. I can write a very business-like email even late at night or early in the morning – look how late he’s working, impressive! I can give bad news gently without having to actually face the person. I get to use passive-aggressive smiley faces. Guess you’ll have that report for me tomorrow instead of today since it’s already 5:30? 
Continue Reading »
5 Ways to Recognize and Utilize Talent
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Editor’s note: This is a guest post Mike King of Learn This.
Talent is an interesting topic and one that is SO critical in the workforce. Talent makes the difference between the top performers poor performers. It can be cultivated and enhanced. Unfortunately the biggest problem is that talent is not always recognized by those who can see a use for it and individuals do not always see or even know how they can use it. Luckily sometimes talents are obvious and people do utilize them in their life and work, but more often than not, talent is lost because it is difficult to recognize. Here are 5 specific ways to recognize and utilize talent!
Continue Reading »
How to Focus Your Thoughts and Accomplish Great Work
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
You may notice that it’s easier to enjoy a certain situation when in a good mood. You aren’t affected by problems as easily. This occurs because your focus is on something that keeps you happy.
Standing in line behind two young women, probably in their early twenties, at the grocery store and they were complaining about their boyfriends. Their groceries were on the conveyer belt waiting to be wrung up. They had bananas, a mango, strawberries, two types of cheeses and crackers. It looked like they were going to eat an amazing snack. They weren’t excited about this wonderful meal they were soon to make, but only worried about their awful boyfriends.
Continue Reading »
The Ultimate Guide to Eliminating Road Rage
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Your road rage can build trying to get to and from work. It’s a double edged pain. Even those of you who work from home you still have to fight through traffic to get to meetings, dropping your kids off or catching a plane. You can’t escape the car culture that we live in. We are dependent on cars. Maybe one day we can sit in hydrogen powered pods that take us to our destination as we play with our iPhones, but for now we are stuck with driving our cars.
I’m writing about road rage because of my own issues with my commute. I used to get really pissed off at anyone who didn’t match my style of driving. It was pretty sad really. The rage can come on fast. Sometimes I don’t even notice it and all of a sudden I’m screaming. This doesn’t happen very often anymore because I can offset these feelings quickly, but it took one particular reframe to make it happen.
Continue Reading »
A Letter that You Wish Your Boss Would Write
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Editor’s note: This is a guest from Lisa H. (aka RunningBear) of Getting to Zen
What makes my boss so great is that he treats his employees like human beings and not like resources that are there just to help him achieve his goals. Although he is my manager, everything that I do for him feels collaborative (even my performance reviews).
As I was scouring the internet to increase my understanding of boss-employee relationships, I came across a hypothetical note a boss wrote to his employees. What I liked most about note was that it provided great insight on how to establish a good relationship with your boss from a boss’s perspective. I liked the idea so much that I decided to write one of my own.
Continue Reading »
Listen to Your Heart
Monday, March 28th, 2011
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
- Earl Nightingale
Cells are the foundation of life. Each cell works together to help you survive. Unnourished cells become sluggish. It’s these cells that are starving. They don’t just want to live they want to thrive.
You must constantly feed these cells to keep them energized. That means eating right, sleeping well and feeding your curiosity every single day.
You’ve seen a train pulling over a hundred freight cars behind them. It takes a long time for a train to get the whole load moving, but once it does it requires a lot less energy to maintain velocity.
Continue Reading »
What do you base your decisions on, money or happiness?
Sunday, March 13th, 2011
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Kole McRae of Office Buddha
I used to be a door to door salesman. I would get up around 6am to spend a 10 hour day selling phone services to people who didn’t really need them. I hated the job and dreaded each morning (I got no days off) but for some strange reason I just kept on doing it.
The money was pretty good. It covered rent and food and it let me go out and have fun whenever I felt like it. I reasoned that I only had to do it for a few years and then I could take a 2 year break and just live off my savings. So things sucked right now, the future would rock.
Continue Reading »
4 Tips to Help You Stay Happy, Present and Productive at Work
Sunday, March 6th, 2011
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Lisa of Lisa of Getting to Zen
Have you ever driven to work only to not remember how you got there? You know the route you took, however you cannot remember a single detail along the way. It was like your brain shut off and you went on autopilot-you were there, but you were not there. This happens to us when we are not present. Not being present can cause us to miss out on so much of what is going on in the moment. It puts us in a past or future time which either has already existed or not existed yet.
Continue Reading »
Chest Clearing Club – Turds, Arch nemesis and Jerks
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
The winter is a time for reflection.
I used to be a very bi-polar and unhappy person. It’s why I started writing. I needed to release the crappy thoughts sitting on me like a big stinky turd, so I could move on to projects I enjoyed.
There was nothing medically wrong with me. I was just me.
It’s actually been a beautiful ride so far. I realize this after many hours of yoga, meditation and journaling. My ability to reframe a difficult situation has helped me improve my happiness by leaps and bounds.
I remember the time my first boss called me a monkey. It was a slap in the face. I literally felt the sting of pain when I heard those words.
Continue Reading »
Recharge Your Battery Throughout the Day
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Your internal battery needs to be recharged on a regular basis. You can’t continue at break neck speed and expect to stay happy and keep reaching your goals.
The hard part is making your recharge a daily habit. If as many people meditated as much as they drank beer we would not be so stressed out and exhausted.
Drinking alcohol is fun. I enjoy a good dark beer every so often, but I stopped drinking every day because of the drag on my body.
I also stopped relying on vacations to recharge my battery. Needing a vacation is a myth that I want to crush right here. You don’t need a vacation. Yes, it may be nice, but you don’t really need one.
Continue Reading »