Month: April 2021

The direction of my day begins with the thoughts that I reject or embrace as I become awake. From there, the success of my day comes from how I turn these thoughts into actions.

Ruminating 

There is a difference between planning and ruminating. When I am planning, I am actively engaged in the present moment. I am taking action on things that I will do in the future.  When I am ruminating, I am just sticking pins in my brain with the idea that I am somehow seeking a solution.

Releasing my Moods

My thinking is related to my moods. When I am hungry or tired or sometimes for reasons that I cannot identify, my moods go down. After I eat or rest, my moods go up.  

As my moods rise and fall, the thoughts I attach to my moods become more intense. However, by becoming self-aware, I can stop attaching bad thoughts to bad moods. Rather, I can sit still. I can take a deep breath. I can let the mood pass like a cloud. 

Images: Jay Wren

 

New Directions

Along the way, my career has taken new directions. As an undergraduate student, I had planned to become a college professor. However, the military obligation I faced required that I serve in the military. Even though I had never been at sea and had no college preparation for Officer Candidate School, I chose to become a Navy officer.

When I left the Navy, I married and started a family. The idea of returning to college and obtaining advanced degrees became impractical. Returning to my plan of becoming a college professor did not fit the new goals I had for my life. I changed direction. 

Fortunately, I landed a job in sales with a terrific training company. At first, I had trouble seeing myself as a sales person. But I learned new skills in sales and business that would help me the rest of my career. I used the skills that I developed at this company to land a job at another company, where I increased my income by 35 percent.

Even though this company promoted me and my income continued to grow, I began to realize that I could make far more money starting my own company.

You Got This

Starting a business was risky. I had no formal business training. In college, I majored in liberal arts, not business. To evaluate the risk, I sat across the desk of another recruiter and watched what he did. Even with no experience in recruiting, I could see that I could do the things this person was doing.  And he was successful. I said to myself, “You got this.”

As a recruiter, I contracted with over one hundred companies and spoke with hundreds of job applicants as well as hiring managers. These applicants and hiring managers were people first and business contacts second. They had goals involving their income, career growth, as well as needs for their families. I hoped for their success. Most of these people had goals for a long-term, successful career. They continued to increase their value to themselves, their families, their customers, and their companies. They became better people. They enriched their own lives as well as the lives of the people who depend on them.

 

Long-term success comes from a lifetime of repeating daily steps. www.jaywren.com

Long-Term Success: What are the things that successful people do to build a long-term career? Can you do these things? Can you repeat them throughout your
career?

During three decades working as a corporate recruiter, I saw people do many things to create successful careers.

Here are five things that you can do.

Don’t Take Your Current Job for Granted

If you have a job, focus being the best employee in the company. Keep a positive attitude. Be personable. Do top-notch work. Show respect for your boss, your peers, and the people who work for you. Stay off social media during the workday. Stay off personal calls during the workday. Avoid political and religious discussions and stick to discussions that will move your work forward.

Surround Yourself with Successful People

When you are in the office or out of the office, surround yourself with people who have successful people. Learning how these people have become
successful and stay successful can help you learn how to build your own career. They can help you network with other successful people who can lead you to
greater opportunities for your career.

Make Your Health a Priority

When I was a young Navy officer, I noticed that the most successful senior officers were physically fit. There were no top athletes. They did not look ripped and shredded. However, they were trim and fit. They had a lot of energy. They had the ability to work hard year after year.

I don’t remember anyone who rose in the ranks of the Marine Corps or the Navy who did not stay physically fit.

Their health made them capable of doing the hard work for success.

Build Your Skills

Because of the Internet, it is easy today to read great material. You can read almost any book online by becoming a member of your local library and
using online book services that libraries offer.

Newsletters, business websites, business feeds on LinkedIn and on Facebook, online college courses and other resources offer online help to build your
career.

Become the Top Expert in Your Field

For some people knowing what they must do on their job each day is as far as they take the knowledge of their industry. However, becoming an expert in your
field raises your value to your company, your clients, and the future of your career.

Starting Now: Remember, success does not come from trying to change things we can’t control. Success comes from acting on the opportunities in front of us. www.jaywren.com

Technology creates changes. Innovation creates changes. Attitudes create changes. Economics creates changes. Mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations create changes. The unknowns will create changes that we can imagine.
However, people who stay successful develop new skills and continue to learn. They seek new fields for places of opportunity.

These changes may cut jobs. However, they also create new opportunities and new jobs.

The invention of the incandescent bulb replaced gas lamps. People who made gas lamps and the gas supplies to support them saw their jobs disappear. However, electrical lighting created new jobs for electrical manufacturers and for electricians.

These changes are not just historical. These changes continue to come.

What is the value of a cab driver or truck driver with self-driving vehicles? What is the value of manufacturing or warehouse people when robots can do their jobs?

Obviously, the jobs for drivers will disappear. However, new jobs will appear in manufacturing automated driving products and for technicians and technical operators of those vehicles.

A person who lives with an awareness of these changes will learn new skills to adapt to the changing roles in the workplace. Furthermore, the person with will not fear change but will embrace it and grow with change.

A deadline is not a wall for failure. It is the door to success. www.jaywren.com

Some projects require months, even years to complete. How do successful people meet deadlines and achieve success with long-term projects? This article lists some ideas that you might find helpful.

Daily Reminders, Project Managers, Lists, Clutter, Priorities, One Step

Daily Reminders

Anyone can suffer from procrastination. Larger or less appealing projects can discourage people from even starting to work on them until the deadline. Taxes and term papers and are two examples.

Project Managers

Many well-run organizations have people who specialize in project management. Many of these people have years of experience. Additionally, project managers often have certifications that qualify them to manage large projects. But as a professional, you must become the project manager of performance, your career, and your life.

Lists

Whether working on short-term or long-term projects, everything starts with a list. The list may simply be the things on my schedule for today. Another list may be for resource material. I put the items on that lists on my calendar. I schedule the items as recurring prompts to remind me of research I have completed. Moreover, the prompt saves me the time of doing the same research again.

When working on long-term projects, I find it helpful to create a list of steps. The steps are the actions I will take by specified deadlines.

In some cases, I have tasks running simultaneously. Even though the tasks are simultaneous, I can’t do any two things at the same time. Therefore, I break the task into units that I can complete during a single day.

List these things on your daily calendar as specific measured steps in terms of details and time you will spend on a task and the time that you will start it.

Clutter

Simple, identical, daily reminders for personal things do not need to be on your schedule: for example, 6:00 AM Ride Bike, 12:00 PM Lunch. For me, these reminders do little good. For motivational purposes, I have tried scheduling activities like exercise or adding a list of nutritional food options on my calendar. But I soon just ignore them. The best motivation for these types of things is to organize my environment for making good choices. I to put my exercise bike in front of my TV where I start my day. As for healthy food choices, I try never go to the grocery store when I am hungry. Second, I don’t bring comfort foods home.

Priorities

Due date and importance: as I list things, I separate them based on due date and importance. For example, I have an important contract to finish writing. I need a day to write it. The deadline is the end of the day. Therefore, I clear my schedule and finish writing the contract. On the other hand, the contract may not due for five days. I break the process of writing the contract into daily five sessions.

Pressing but not important issues: During the day, I have things that arise that appear or feel urgent. They are pressing issues related to the needs of others. An associate from another department might call. I feel pressure to take the call. However, relative to the things on your schedule, the call is not urgent. I schedule to call the person back when I have finished my more important work for the day.

One Step

One method I use to complete a large project is to agree with myself to do just one thing. For example, I once took on the task of clearing large shrubs from my yard. The task was far too large to do in one day or even a week. I struck a deal with myself to remove one limb each day. On days when I couldn’t motivate myself to do more than remove one limb, I simply removed one limb. I resisted looking at how much work I still had to do. I just focused on my agreement with myself to remove one limb. Through that method, I stayed on the project of clearing the shrubs and finished a huge project for one person.

Likewise, when I am writing, I strike that same agreement. I write one sentence. Then, the next sentence may not come to me. But I stick to my agreement with myself to write that first sentence. Without that first sentence, the second sentence would never come. When I can’t move ahead beyond that sentence, I don’t dwell on how much more I must write. I simply continue the agreement to write one sentence each day.