Jay Wren – Page 47 – Be in the Top 1% in Mindset – Leadership

Resume Cover Letters: Do You Have the Perfect Resume and No Job Interviews?

Resume Cover Letters: How important is your resume cover letter? It is as important as your resume for getting an interview.

Resume Cover Letters: Do You Have the Perfect Resume and No Job Interviews?

Do you have the perfect resume and not getting interviews? The reason could be your cover letter.

If your cover letter does not compel the reader to read your resume, either you are applying for the wrong job or, quite simply, your cover letter failed.

There are some simple steps to writing an effective resume cover letter.

The first sentence must state the purpose of the cover letter. For example, your opening sentence might read like this: “The purpose of the cover letter is to submit my resume for [name of position].”

Second, the letter should be short. Recruiters do little more than glance at a resume. They are sorting out the resumes of people who are not a fit for the job. Therefore, recruiters should be able to glance at your cover letter and feel compelled to read your resume.

Third, you need to show enthusiasm for the job. Your enthusiasm sends positives signals to recruiters that your application is worth their time.

Lastly, your cover letter should have a call to action. Ask when you can speak or meet with the recruiter.

Sample Email Cover Letter

Name of Recipient:

The purpose of this email is to submit my resume for [name of position].

I am excited about your opportunity.

Are you available in the next week for a phone call?

Your Name
Your Phone Number
Your email address

Postal Cover Letter

Your Name
Address, City, ST ZIP Code [Optional: Add if your address shows you are local]
Telephone
Email

Date

Recipient Name
Title [if you know it]
Company
Address
City, State ZIP Code

Dear Recipient Name:

The purpose of this email is to submit my resume for [name of position].

I am excited about your opportunity.

Are you available in the next week for a phone call?

[Signature]
Your Name

Fun: In What Way Can Fun Increase Productivity?

un: What are the things that you can do to reduce stress in the workplace? In what ways can we enjoy our work and can increase our productivity?

Fun: In What Way Can Fun Increase Productivity?

I enjoy my work. The requirements of the job are simple yet fast paced. The tools are a lot of fun: email, Internet, desk phone, and a smartphone. The clients and applicants are bright and creative, often very successful. The information in my industry evolves in refreshing ways.

Saying “No” to Distractions

For me, to enjoy my work, I must say “No” to distractions.

Calling friends, surfing the web, playing video games are all distractions.

These things distract from my work. Furthermore, they from the things I enjoy in my work.

Distractions, of course, make me less productive. They also create tension with the things I enjoy about my work.

By saying no to distractions when I am working, I can focus on the joy of work itself

The Present Moment

When we live in the present moment, we are not ruminating about the past. Nor are we worrying about the future.

In the present moment, we are using a part of our brain where thinking becomes a flow. Our mind stops analyzing the details of our work. We can enjoy doing our work.

How to Be Serious

People associate work with toil, stress, and pressure. And, work can be filled with toil, stress, and pressure.

However, people who think this way are the people who choke when facing a challenge. They are the place kicker who misses the extra point. In basketball, they are the player who misses the winning layout. They are the closer in baseball who walks in the winning run.

People who see challenges as fun still take their work seriously. However, these people focus on their work and trust that the results will take care of themselves.

Enjoy Life: How Do You Step Back and Take It Easy?

Enjoy life: Do you find yourself overwhelmed with work or with personal and family challenges? How do you find a way to step back and take it easy?

“Lighten up while you still can.
…and take it easy.”

“Take it Easy” lyrics by The Eagles

Enjoy Life.

Not only should you enjoy life. Moreover, you should live life so that you can have the energy and imagination that comes from rewarding yourself.

First, take breaks during the day.

Additionally, go someplace new when you can. You don’t have to go around the world. On some days, just walk around a different block.

Those shoes that you want to buy can go a long way in making you feel rewarded. If you have the money, buy those shoes. Then get out and let people see you wear them.

With the pressures on body image, we lose sight of the importance of being healthy. If cake and ice cream take you away from your weight goals, find other things you can eat and enjoy. When you don’t feel deprived, it is easier to eat the good things.

Burnout

Burnout is a real thing. Furthermore, burnout is an ugly thing. It makes you where you literally can’t work.

Life is a marathon not a sprint. Taking time to “Take it Easy” restores your mental and creative power.

Do you look at your work and say, “I can no longer do this?” That condition is burnout.”Lighten up while you still can” in the song “Take it Easy” has multiple meanings. To me, it is a warning against burnout.

Embrace Your Culture

What are the things that define your culture? Every day, workplace culture surrounds you.

Changing American culture surrounds you as well.

Sometimes, it is healthy to return to the things that feel natural to you. Instead of focusing on the chaos and change in the world, focus on the things that have always made you feel authentic. Embrace your culture.

Stepping Back

How do you find a way to step back and take it easy? Sometimes, stepping back is as simple as taking a few minutes to listen to an old song.

For me, “Take It Easy” is one of those songs.

In Winslow Arizona, there is a park dedicated to the Eagles song “Take it Easy.” The park takes its name from the line in the song: “I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona.”

Perhaps this picture will help you imagine what taking a trip, buying the shoes, or eating the cake can do for you.

Image: “Standin’ on the Corner Park,” Old Highway 66, Winslow, AZ. Population 9,479 via Google Streets.

The park in the picture is a memorial to the Eagles song “Take it Easy.” Find a park near you. “Lighten up while you still can and take it easy.”

Cold Calls: How Do You Take the Chill Out of Cold Calls?

Cold calls: do you fear calling people you don’t know? How do successful people open doors to opportunity through a simple phone call?

Cold Calls: How Do You Take the Chill Out of Cold Calls?

Cold calls: do you fear calling people you don’t know? How do successful people open doors to opportunity through a simple phone call?

Here are some tips that will help you with cold calls.

Be Okay with Rejection

One of the things that make cold calling scary for many people is their fear of rejection.

Allow yourself to be okay with people telling you “No.” Be okay with people being rude. Even be okay with people hanging up on you.

None of this rejection is personal. That is, the rejection is not about you. The person who is being rude doesn’t even know you.

Have a Script.

Know what you want to say. Rehearse your script.

Furthermore, develop a level comfort in giving your presentation that you can deviate from your script and return to it with ease.

Be Friendly and Flexible.

When you are making a cold call, you are asking people to give you their time and attention. Be friendly. Thank the buyers for their time. Be flexible to deviate from your script when it stops working for you.

Listen and Allow Questions

Your buyer may be very interested in your offer. However, they may need to ask questions to understand the purpose of your call.

If you can listen and allow questions, you can develop a skill for knowing when you are wasting your time. When buyers have questions, they are giving you their attention. Furthermore, they are giving you two pieces of information. On one hand, your buyer needs more information. However, on the other hand, your buyer may be showing you that your product will never fit the buyer’s needs.

Your Call is a Service to the Buyer.

When you understand that you are giving your buyer information your buyer needs to decide how your product fits their need, your attitude changes. You release the pressure to sell. You assume the of a person there to help the buyer.

Learning more about negotiation as a service will help you become more confident in making cold calls.

It’s Okay for Your Buyer to Raise Objections.

Your product might not fit your buyer needs. Therefore, it is okay for your buyer to object or even say no. You can say “thank you” and move on to the next call.

Allowing your buyer an opportunity to object to your presentation relieves the buyer from the pressure of feeling stuffed.

Furthermore, it takes the pressure for you to insist having to close the sale. You will think more clearly.

Moreover, you will take the chill out of making cold calls.

Business Meetings: Bringing the Right Tools

Business Meetings: job interviews, sales calls, client service meetings, meetings within your own company. What tools can add power to your presence?

Business Meetings: Bringing the Right Tools

What you bring to a business meeting is as important as the things you say or do in a business meeting. Getting to a business meeting to discover that you do not have the things you need is not only embarrassing, it is often a business-meeting killer. I recommend that you buy a portfolio case or a briefcase that you use just for meetings. Keep the case stocked with the materials that you will take to every meeting.

When organizing your meeting case, make sure you bring the following items.

Bring several copies of presentations.

You should have a copy for your own use and a copy for each person on the meeting schedule. Take extra copies for people who are not on the schedule but who might come into the meeting unannounced. Sometimes having unexpected people join the meeting is a sign that the people are interested in what you must say or show.

Bring a list of the attendees.

Having this list will help you organize your notes about questions people have. The list can also help you remember people’s names and the role of the people in the meeting.

Bring a list of recommendations.

For sales presentations and interviews, having a list of recommendations adds power to your professional credibility and creates excitement about the quality of your work.

Bring a brag book or portfolio.

A brag book contains samples of your work so that people can see the range of your success. Furthermore, a brag book can help people visualize what you have accomplished.

Bring your laptop.

If you have powerhouse presentations that you can show more examples of your work, you can use your laptop as a dynamic tool.

Bring business cards.

Some people see business cards to verify your employment and verify your job title. They show people that you are who you say you are.

Bring a notepad.

You need to keep track of contact and company information that you learn during your meetings. A notepad is an effective way to make notes without distracting people the way using a smartphone or laptop might distract people when you are taking notes.

Bring three or four pens.

The extra pens help you relax that you have a pen that works. In addition, it is wise to make sure you can help an attendee who does not have a pen for taking notes.

Leadership Traits: What are Four Traits Leaders Must Have?

Leadership Traits: Some teams have a manager but still suffer from a lack of leadership. What traits help leaders raise the team standards and increase team success?

Leadership Traits: What are Four Traits Leaders Must Have?

Leaders have many traits. Some of these traits are good traits that not all leaders have. For example, a leader with charisma easily draws people to them. Leaders who are more intelligent help the team make better decisions. But what are some traits that you can develop and every leader must have?

Here are my ideas.

Self-honesty

Yes, not just honesty, but self-honesty.

Self-honesty is about you recognizing and correcting your mistakes. It’s the honesty to recognize your weaknesses.

It is burying your ego so that you can accept the truths that stand between you and success.

To be successful takes more than overcoming lying, cheating, and stealing. For that matter, there are successful liars, cheaters, and thieves.

But even successful thieves must be honest about their mistakes and their weaknesses. Otherwise, they will never become more effective, successful thieves.

Furthermore, self-honesty might be the most overlooked of all leadership traits

Open-mindedness

A closed mind is the wall between ignorance and learning. It is also a wall between the shared intelligence of the team and the mind of a boss.

Of all the leadership traits, open-mindedness might be the most important trait for creative, responsive teams.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (sometimes abbreviated “EI” or referred to as Emotional Quotient “EQ”) is the ability to identify your emotions and the emotions of other people. When leaders can manage their emotions to increase their performance, emotional intelligence becomes a skill.

Furthermore, the skill become the greatest when leaders can manage their emotions and the skills of their team to become more productive and successful teams.

People who have emotional intelligence know how to read people. They have an intuitive sense of why people do things and how to motivate people to do things.

Ability to Grow

Leaders who continue to grow become a source of continuous growth of the team. A team that continues to grow become more effective the longer the team stays together.

Teams that grow make the leap from short-term survival to long-term success.

Bragging: The Wrong Way to Impress People

ragging: The Wrong Way to Impress People. What are the things people don’t want to hear? How can you attract people without annoying them with bragging?

Most of your friends want you to have nice things. Furthermore, they want to have nice things happen to you.

However, when you make the focus about you and you begin to boast, you distance yourself from people who might otherwise have an interest in your experiences.

Being able to present your accomplishments is important.

However, bragging is a career killer, especially on some subjects.

Great Vacation

People who care for you are happy when you take a break. Furthermore, people who care about you are happy that you are going to exciting places.

However, endless discussion of your Caribbean cruise or your two-weeks in Paris can quickly become boring if not annoying.

Your Expensive Car

Cars are exciting. When your friends see that you have a cool ride, they want to hear about it. However, when discussing your expensive car goes from an interesting discussion about the car to bragging about you as the owner, you have lost focus on the things that make the car exciting.

Your Intimate Exploits

On the other hand, bragging about the number of people with whom you have been intimate says more about your lack of character than your assets as an individual.

In the workplace, discussion of your intimate relationships rarely increases the way people see you as a professional.

Your Accomplishments

Professional and personal accomplishments can advance your career and increase your self-esteem. Effective presentation of your accomplishments is critical to your career.

However, bragging about your accomplishments gets old. Furthermore, you lose credibility. Your accomplishments become more valuable when other people discuss them than when you discuss them.

When Bragging Betrays Your Insecurity.

People who are constantly bragging need attention. They are saying look at me, think about me. Before you brag, take a deep breath. Focus on the things that are in front of you and how you can make your life and the life of the people around you better. Think about how you can help your family and serve your customers or your employees.

Enjoy your authenticity. Find peace in thinking about the ways other people bring value to your life.

Rebels: Is Conforming to the System Killing Your Career?

I have never known a rebel who was boring. ~ www.jaywren.com

Rebels: Companies have guidelines and rules. But what do you do when the guidelines no longer provide you security? Do you have enough of the rebel in you to change your life and, perhaps, even the lives of people around you?

Rebels: Is Conforming to the System Killing Your Career?

Following policies and procedures works great for the average person. They go to work on time and do what the company asks. To the best of their ability, they try to get along with everyone.

But what if you are tired of being average? What if you want to break out of the mold in a bold and dynamic way?

Furthermore, what if you want to change your life and change the lives of the people around you?

Every Pathway Involves Risks.

There are people who have great careers. They work at a company for twenty or thirty years. Some of these people are fortunate enough to move on to another great job. Others have the good fortune of being able to retire early.

For other people, the life of the average person moves along fine until they find that their company no longer needs them and discover it is too late in life to recover.

Then the most secure pathway of conformity becomes the riskiest. As they reach their forties and fifties, many still have families to support, perhaps even have the expense of sending their children to college.

However, now, they end up in hourly jobs for far less money. Others end up doing gigs with no security all.

Rebels Create Change.

Some great rebels of the 19th and 20th century changed the way the world does things and received enormous rewards for those changes.
Inventors from Thomas Edison to Edwin Land were rebels. Thomas Edison held more patents than any other person. Edwin Land is second in terms of holding the most patents.

Steve Jobs admired Land for the bold moves that Land made to create new products and build a company around them. Jobs referred to Land as a “troublemaker.”

Steve Jobs was no less a rebel. He left Apple in 1985 over disputes with the board of directors. At the time, perhaps no one could imagine Steve Jobs returning to Apple. But in 1997, he did return. In his own rebellious way, he redirected a failing company and turned it into the most valuable company in the world.

Tim Ferriss had made a career of doing things differently. He took a laptop, created a WordPress website, wrote four best-selling books, and now has one of the most popular podcasts on the Internet. Ferris has over 940,000 people who follow him on LinkedIn. He characterizes his message as “experiments in lifestyle design.” To many people, he is the leading pioneer of the new economy. In his book, The Four-Hour Workweek, he describes the lifestyle of the “new rich.”

Rebels Find Success Through Their Authenticity.

It is their struggle for authenticity that makes the rebels different. Furthermore, they reject the restrictions that run counter to their view of authenticity.

The simple writing style of Ernest Hemingway, the descriptive writing style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the complex writing style of William Faulkner, and the clever, witty writing style of J.D. Salinger are all different.

Their styles were not only different from the style of each other. Their styles were different from the styles of any other writers. All four adhered to their idea of authenticity in their writing.

As do all rebels, these writers have their authenticity in common.

Team Culture: Creating Success That Endures

Team Culture: Why do some teams pull together, even in the face of adversity? On the other hand, why do winning teams break down and go separate ways?

Team Culture: Creating Success That Endures

There are many things that characterize team culture. One of those things is that they share common goals. Second, team members share common interests. Third, team members can find a pathway to interact towards the goal.

Defining the Goal

Teams come together over a common goal. For example, Company A creates a team to increase customer satisfaction.

Common Interests

In putting a team together to increase customer satisfaction, a company picks people from different departments of a company to get a holistic view of the problem. However, the team members must share a common interest in increasing customer satisfaction.

Common Pathway

If everyone on the team will work together to layout a common pathway to accomplishing the goal, the team can move into action. On the other hand, teams without a common pathway will stumble over their differences. For example, some team members may want to begin by brainstorming the problem. One the other hand, other team members want to take a more formal, organized approach. These team members may want to identify roles and create a schedule of tasks.

Before teams can become successful, team members must find a common pathway.

The Breakdown

Second, if some team members have no interests in the goal, they will likely contribute little and may even distract from the process.

Third, until the team can decide in which order they are going to work, little work will get done. The team culture will become adversarial. Brainstormers versus the Organizers. In other words, they won’t be one team. The team culture breaks down and the team becomes just a group of people who stumble with little or no progress toward the goal.

The Solution

The solution is to consider all three points when putting the team together. Define the goal. Select people who will commit to the goal. Pick team members who have common ways for solving problems.

By following these three principles, you will create a team culture with a framework for success.

Mentors: A Source Of Power Or A Waste of Time?

Mentors: What is a mentor? How can a mentor help you? What skills do you need to benefit from mentoring? What type of mentoring will work effectively for you?

Mentors: A Source of Power or A Waste of Time?

For many people, a mentor is a source of inspiration, wisdom, and solutions.

Some people rely on their mentor for mental and emotional direction. In my case, I have a friend who has a great ability to see things in perspective. He mentors me when I am concerned about the things that happen in my life.

In other cases, mentors with practical or professional experience can help you make decisions on your education, health, career, finances, or business. Again, in my case, I have had mentors whose professional experience helped me solve problems in my business. In other cases, their knowledge helped me network with people who had experience that my mentors lacked.

“The Coach” Who Mentored Tech Geniuses

From 1974 to 1979, Bill Campbell was head coach of the football team at Columbia University. Later in his career, he became chairman of the board of trustees of Columbia University and chairman of the board of Intuit. Furthermore, he served as vice president of marketing and as a board director for Apple and held other positions on advisory boards and as a corporate executive.

Steve Jobs at Apple, Larry Page at Google, and other tech executives referred to Campbell as “The Coach” for his mentoring skills in helping them with their careers.

Even the superstars of industry have mentors to help them throughout their careers.

Are You Wasting Your Time?

Well, yes, you might be.

The person who is mentoring you might not be able to help you. A valuable mentor is not just someone who listens to your problems.

Specifically, mentors are helpful when they listen to you and help you gain perspective, wisdom, or information to solve problems.

What Qualities Do You Need to Use a Mentor?

People who benefit from mentoring must can keep an open mind. Furthermore, they must have the desire to learn from others.

Specifically, people who benefit from mentoring have the emotional intelligence to park their ego when people tell them things they may not like.

Therefore, to benefit from a mentor, you must have an open mind to accept different ideas. If you are a person who does not like to hear the point of view of other people, you will have trouble listening to a mentor.

Lastly, you must be at a point where you want what a mentor can offer. My first mentor had a very successful business. In this case, I enjoyed his being around him and hearing about his success. Specifically, learning what he was doing helped me learn about the things that I needed to do.

Working with a Mentor Requires a Commitment on Your Part.

Benefitting from a mentor requires that you do a few things.

First, stay in touch with your mentor. At the least, you need to call your mentor. Furthermore, meeting with your mentor once a week or even more often helps a great deal.

Second, you need to listen to your mentor. Some mentors are helpful by listening to you. However, if you do all the talking, you will not learn much from your mentor.