Career Success : The Four Compass Points for Raising Your Career

Michael Podolinsky, trainer and certified speaking professional of Podolinsky International shares with Human Resources on what he feels are the four key “compass points” that can help you achieve success in your career.

3 Ways to Improve Productivity

What are YOU going to do today?

Most people show up at work and immediately they are inundated with work. E-mail in box has 20 to 200 new emails. Your mobile has 10 to 50 text messages for you to respond to. Your boss tells you about 2 meetings you must attend you did not know about. As soon as you respond to the messages on your phone and in your inbox, another equally daunting number come in requiring your IMMEDIATE attention. There goes your day!

What got done? Yes, the messages got replies, but that is not the question. What of substance got done?

Unfortunately, most people today would say, “Little gets done of what is important and VERY little of what I WANTED to do.” So my question for you, What are YOU going to do today?

Will you allow the day to take over or will you take control of your day?  Do you want your life back?

Here are 3 of my 30 Personal and Professional Productivity Principles:

1) Plan your day before it plans itself for you. Start in the wee hours of the morning with some quiet time and then focus on what you need to get done. Make a list of at least 3 things you MUST do to have a significant day and do them BEFORE you answer emails or text messages. Will you upset some people? Probably. Will YOU be more in control? DEFINITELY! This is also a great career move.

2) Resist the temptation to let emails and text messages set your daily priorities. Set specific times for responding to them and stick to those times. Surprisingly, by not responding as quickly and by controlling your time, responding to fewer inquiries, you will start to receive fewer emails and text messages. Obviously, respond to your clients (internal and external) but be sloth to respond to B and C priorities.

3) Block 90 minutes a day for your A1 project and insist you are UN-INTERRUPTED. I refer to this as the 90-Minute Marvel. It will boost your productivity 30%.

Now that you’ve read this, what are YOU going to DO today?

Let us know if you’d like the other 27 principles.

Smile Makers: Who’s the boss?

It doesn’t matter how many times a married man changes jobs. He still ends up with the same boss.

Good Lord willing, we’ll be married 10 years this year. Our arrangement is, I make all the major decisions and my wife makes all the minor ones. So far, in 10 years, there has not been a major decision to make yet.

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Making Goals STICK

Most people never set goals. They just wander aimlessly through life. YOU are different. Hey, you are reading this Blog newsletter, right?!

Question:  Have you ever set goals you did NOT achieve? Really? Me too. In the beginning I accomplished almost none of my goals. I got better over the years and now achieve close to 90% of my goals on time and on target. How?

Here are 3 techniques I learned to make goals STICK:

Goal Sticking Technique #1: Make them public. If you enjoy having `face` and want to keep it, declare your goals in public. Telling your boss, family and friends, `I will achieve X by noon, December 31st, 2010`puts a lot of pressure on you to achieve. That pressure gives you motivation when you otherwise want to rest. Conrad Hilton sold hotels not yet built. Bill Gates sold the rights to software he did not own. Once you make a public commitment, it is amazing what you can achieve.

Goal Sticking Technique #2: Help your mind `see` the goal by creating an image in your mind. It is hard to picture `rich` but easy to picture $1 million. Difficult to envision `happy family` but easy to see you dining every night with your family, smiling and talking. Impossible to see `someday` but easy to imagine 6 PM August 9th 2006.

Goal Sticking Technique #3: Make a bet. I do not advocate people gambling as most gamblers end up broke. I do encourage side bets to ensure success.

Bet your spouse you can achieve your goal by a specific time and when successful, you get to buy a 42 inch Plasma screen and if you miss the deadline, you have to sell `that chair` you love but your spouse hates.

Bet your boss you can outsell another division leader by March 1st. When you succeed, you get a bigger territory or an office. If you miss the target, you will wash the bosses car once a week for a month.

The combination of reward and punishment with accountability to a third party is a powerful inducement.

Making goals STICK is just one subject of a full day course we offer on Goal Attainment. These 3 simple techniques can certainly help you have a richer more successful year.

You can check out my previous blog post on goal attainment too.

Do something great for your life. I believe in you!

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Pushing Yourself

When was the last time you PUSHED Yourself? I’m not talking just working hard. I’m not talking about putting in long hours. I’m not talking about working until you are exhausted. Most of the world’s population suffers through one or more of these every week and sometimes all 3 every day. I’m talking about pushing yourself beyond your normal capabilities; PUSHING yourself beyond your pay grade or level of experience. How long has it been since you really GAVE yourself a physical, mental, social, spiritual challenge or target that seemed nearly impossible to reach or so SCAREY to imagine doing? If you cannot remember the last time, maybe it’s time you get busy and PUSH yourself.

Worthwhile growth does not come gradually, it comes in spurts. Remember as a kid having ‘growing pains’ when you had a ‘growth spurt’? It hurt. But you ’shot up’ a ‘thumb width’ or more in a week or two.

Think about some successes you had that could have been tragedies:

• Did you ever buy a house you were not sure you could afford and found buying it changed you? Chances are, you became more focused, dedicated and within a short period of time, that home was no longer a ’stretch’.
• Did you talk someone into hiring you for a job or project and when you got it, reality set-in and you were stressed to the max? Yet, you rose to the occasion and did an awesome job, advancing your career.

These experiences where we PUSH ourselves are opportunities for quantum growth. These life-defining episodes are what separate us from the average person who never dares, never tries and never risks ‘failure’. As a result, those people live ’successfully’ in mediocrity.

PUSHING ourselves might be as simple as asking for bigger projects at work, setting STRECH goals for the year or signing up for a new course of study. Pushing ourselves might be has difficult as quitting a job to pursue the career of your dreams with no idea how to make it work or admitting yourself into a treatment facility for an alcohol or gambling addiction.

Remember, when PUSH comes to SHOVE, if you PUSH yourself, you are the one controlling your destiny. If someone has to SHOVE you into action, that person has some if not all of the power and control over your life. PUSHING ourselves is often the BEST way to grow and develop.

Smile Maker:  Three dreams of a woman:

To be as beautiful as her mother thinks.

To be as rich as her child believes.

To have a husband as wonderful as he thinks he is.

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8 Holiday Shopping Ideas… A bit off the beaten track

Creativity is an amazing thing. It can save you a fortune and give you better results yet most people opt for ‘thinking with their wallets.’ A much more expensive option. If you want to please those people in your life that really matter OR give the obligatory gifts to clients and ‘associates’ without going broke, here are 8 thoughts for you.

1.  Send them all the gift of love. Take a charity that no one can possible have a problem with and one you endorse and send a BIG gift to that charity in their name. ãYou…WE have so much. I am donating $100 in your name to UNICEF for the children of the world.ä It will cost you $100 but it does that person, you and the children a LOT more good than a pewter plate with your corporate logo on it.

2. Write a personal note to your spouse or kids and include 5 vouchers for ‘One hour of massage’, ‘One get out of the flat for free and I take care of the kids’ or ‘Good for one night out with your girlfriends / the guys’ or ‘A day with dad / mom doing what ever you want to do…Sentosa, video games, picnic, Discovery Centre or ???’. Put an expiration date so they get used up.

3.  Remember what that person likes and give it to them. This is a repeat of last week but the point is, if you are listening, it may not cost a lot to make people feel appreciated.

4.  Days for that special someone. You already have everything I own. I want to give you something that not even I own. A day of my life. I give you one day, of your choosing, where I will do whatever you desire. I’ll pamper you, take care of you, massage you and gladly be your servant for a day.ä Do you think THAT will be appreciated?

5.  Get out of work early voucher. Give your employees a voucher where they can get out of work at 3 PM any day of their choosing, except during peak periods (list). Costs you NOTHING and will be seen as a HUGE perk. Hey… On the days they wish they were gone? They are already GONE mentally.

6.  Book of your choice from Popular, Times or Borders. Great gift. Give them an in-store voucher or just your own (buy it and I’ll pay you back). Keeping your team or kids reading is a great thing. The fact they don’t buy it immediately means they have to see it and think about it a lot. More positive thoughts than the tie you buy and it goes into the drawer for years.

7.  Promise (and actually CHANGE) the bad habit your family dislikes. For example, if you have promised to be home for dinner and never made it on time, tell them it is your ‘present’ and NEVER BE LATE ONCE!!! Set no appointments near dinner time and pay your staff a bonus to kick you out EARLY.

8.  Write a poem or love note to the people that matter. Sorry, the jewellery stores tell you they need to see diamonds. Instead, take the next 10 lunch hours writing a poem of just how much you love that special someone in your life. Write it. Re-write it. Perfect it. Include how you met, your first kiss, the first time you ‘knew’ she / he was the one, etc. Print it out on special parchment and frame it. $30 - $50. Diamonds $5,000. Diamonds will impress. Your poem will touch the heart. Depends on what you want to accomplish.

I’m not against retail. Just think we need to connect at a level other than the plastic card level. Visa, MC, Diners and AMEX are great, but cannot buy the heart. Our gift of time and creativity can do a lot to make the holidays special.

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Grow Your Business, Grow Your Career

Whether you work for big organisation or are self employed, the steps to growing your business or your career are often the same. Here are 3 `Growth Hormones` for growing your career or growing your business.

Growth Hormone # 1: Loyalty. Loyalty to your customer will make them more loyal to you. Frequent flyer points for free trips are expensive ways to buy loyalty. Instead, giving your regular customers a better deal, more then what they asked for or special treatment including recognising their names, one to one attention or a free gift is more effective and demonstrates loyalty. This works in business and in careers.

If you are loyal to your boss, your team, your company, speaking well of them, building them up and standing up for them. This pays off in increased loyalty towards you. A good career move.

Growth Hormone # 2: Perpetual marketing. Do you think this newsletter just happens by itself? Writing, e-mailing and posting it to our Web site  is a major commitment. So are the 2000+ e-mails we send out to reconnect with past clients and prospective clients. Hundreds of postcards, journal articles, writing books and more are all part of our perpetual marketing.

Does all this effort pay off. No way! In reality, very little does. Most people are too busy to respond or to care. Why do it?  Two out of one hundred DO respond and forward this newsletter to someone who hires us or they call us in for work.

In your career, if you expect every little thing you do will get noticed, you are deluded. Most of what we do is what we were hired to do. It is consistency and more importantly, the innovative things we do that get us noticed; another good career move.

Growth Hormone # 3: Think IN the box. Instead of trying to think outside of the box, think IN the box. That is, think of current procedures and how to refine them. How can you make them run on automatic so you can focus your attention on something that will bring you a better return on your investment of time?

Work your systems to get them to run on automatic. Coach your people instead of telling them what to do so they learn to solve problems on their own. Look into your box so it runs so well, you can live most of your life completely outside the box.

In a career, if your team can run autonomously of you, think of the ways you can exert your effort and ideas to transform the organisation you work in and propel your career.

Loyalty, perpetual marketing and thinking IN the box are just 3 tools out of thousands we cover in our workshops, speeches and seminars to help you grow your career or grow your business. The next time you hear of someone looking for a speaker, trainer or facilitator, how about passing on our contact details to them and THEIR contact information back to us? I will gladly send you a FREE e-book for your effort. See… I practice what I preach.

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Attitude Adjustment

We have heard it said that `Attitude determines our altitude.` But HOW do you adjust your attitude? Here are 8 quick tips to help you adjust your attitude to have a richer, more enjoyable your life:

1. Start your day a little earlier and less rushed. Hey, you are going to be tired anyway, right? At least if you get up earlier, you will not be so rushed. Getting up at 4 AM has really helped me get focused, get relaxed and accomplish some major things that had been nagging at me for years.

2. After you wash and get cleaned up, get your coffee or tea and take your vitamins, sit down and have 20 minutes of quiet time. If you have a religion you adhere to, read some of your scripture and meditate on its meaning. Then think how it will apply to your day. You WILL be focused and with a sense of peace in your heart. If you are a `free thinker`, read something inspirational and then figure out how you can inspire those around you.

3. If you did not do it the night before, make a `to do` list to ensure you have a good plan for the day. It helps with your attitude because direction gives you both control and as you accomplish tasks, you feel motivated and successful.

4.  Before going to work, leave a note for someone at home to find. Mom, dad, auntie, wife, husband…telling them you appreciate them and love them. After they find it, they will most likely look forward to seeing you next to tell you they appreciate your gesture. If you are in a sour mood when you see them next, their positive attitude about you can turn the worm in your heart to an attitude of happiness.

5. On the way to work, start thinking of what you will do, how you will do it and how successful you will be today. Start creating your self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Smile. Forcing a big smile on your face changes your chemical balance and makes you feel better. It is a conditioned response. Now walking into work with a smile (everyone will wonder what YOU did last night) will get you more smiles back. (another conditioned response) Smiles from others makes you feel even better.

7. Got a tough task like correcting a negative person at work? Take a different tact. Do not call them into your office. Ask that person to take a walk with you. Breaking with the mould will surprise that person and may just finally get through to her or him. Also, you will feel better walking as will she/he because walking stimulates your endorphins. Rather than attack, ask questions like, `How did that project go?` `Why do you think it went wrong?` `Rather than blame anyone, what would make sure it never went wrong again?` Then comment on the beautiful day and look the person in the eye, `You have SO MUCH potential. I see it. (SMILE) Do you?`You will have accomplished the reprimand and motivated TWO people at the same time.

8. On the way home, rather than think about the problems with sick children you will encounter, the fact the maid or spouse probably did or did not do something or the frustrations of the day you want to vent, think of how happy you will be to be home. (SMILE) Think of the hug you will give/get. Think of that cool beer or juice will taste. Think of taking a short shower to refresh yourself and putting your feet up while you listen to your favourite music. Then make that happen for you.   An old quote from Abe Lincoln, `People are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.is really true. Amazing how you will have a better attitude if you just make sure you do!

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Recreate Your Life for the Better.

We are a composite of 3 elements, REPUTATION, EGO and CHARACTER. Understanding these 3 elements and building them can boost both our satisfaction in life and the success we enjoy in our field of endeavour, RECreating our lives for the better.

REPUTATION is what others think of us. We acquire our reputation by how we talk and how we act. When our speech and actions are moral, fair and based upon sound judgment, we develop a good Reputation. This Reputation is a bank account full of business, family and friendship possibilities.

EGO is what we think of ourselves. Kept in check, it does not overshadow and drown out our Reputation. An Ego out of control makes null and void any credits earned in the Reputation bank account.

CHARACTER is what God and family know of us. The public `face` comes off when we are home and with those we love and they see, hear and experience WHO we really are inside. If we teach children not to steal but sneak them into a movie theatre on a child`s ticket when they are too old to qualify, they learn what you preach is not what we really believe.
If we apologise to someone at work for offending him, particularly when we do not like that person, we speak volumes about our CHARACTER and EGO. Doing so makes it harder for that person to speak ill of us, preserving our REPUTATION.

When our EGO is small, and our CHARACTER noble and large, usually the REPUTATION we receive is positive and well deserved. If you asked your boss, colleagues, family members, friends and your innermost voice today about your Reputation, Ego and Character, would you be happy with the feedback?

It is always a good time to RECreate our lives for the better.

To have your team learning these lessons and others to boost their productivity and effectiveness, please contact us. In addition to training, we speak at conventions, conduct strategic planning retreats, sales meetings and facilitate sessions to optimise leadership development, team growth and personal productivity.