Great Work Achievers Are Great Listeners!

Great Work Achievers Are Great Listeners!

Most people listen well but they do so only when they want or have to. Some of the causes of this behavior are they either don't care, defensive to the core; don't value others, impatient or just too busy. Great achievers do the opposite and have mastered the following listening skills that always allow them to be top performers.

1. Listen Through - Do Not Interrupt
When listening do not interrupt before the other person talking is finished and when they pause do not put words in their mouth by suggesting words. If time is not on your side and you want to end a conversation, be polite by asking if the conversation could be summarized.

2. Ask Questions
Good listeners ask lots of questions to get to a good understanding. This could be done by probing or asking for clarification. If you are not sure what the other party is referring to ask for confirmation. Ask one more question than you do now.

3. Work on non-verbal cues
Don't frown, fidget with your pen or stare blankly even if you are a point where you have given up listening. Tell them what you think. Most people forget about this component of listening. They think that listening is only done by the ear. Your posture can determine if you are actually listening or not. Work on this vital piece.

4. Have Patience
Develop the patience to listen to people. Interrupt to summarize if necessary. Tell the other person to be shorter next time. Structure the conversation by helping them come up with categories and structures to stop their rambling. Put your mind in neutral and ask questions if need be.

5. Don't be a selective listener
What I mean by this is don't make a decision who you want to listen and who you do not want to listen to. What are you basing your criteria on? Is it skills, age, gender, race or your needs? You might miss some important information if you are selective on whom you listen to? Challenge yourself to practice listening to those you don't usually listen to. Listen for content. Separate the content from the person.

6. Be composed when listening
How do you react when getting negative feedback? The natural tendency is to be defensive. What if you are being personally attacked and it ends up showing that you are right? The rules remain the same - you need to be composed! You need to be calm. Listen and understand what the person is getting at. Ask clarifying questions and work on keeping yourself in a calm state when getting negative feedback.
Listening involves knowing what others have said and meant to say and making them comfortable that they have had their say. Your ability to master listening techniques opens doors that a few have done to achieve success in their lives.

Get That Promotion! Be Great At Work.

Get That Promotion! Be Great At Work.

Everybody wants to level up in all areas of their lives. Mostly, this are self-employed individuals who wants a raise on their salary and a recognition on their good work.  Everybody love to see themselves stepping up in the ladder of success getting promoted. Here are some of the secrets you need to know if you are aspiring to get a promotion.
With today's economy and continued job scarcity, getting a promotion is still very possible. However, it is not easy.
Due to the continued high unemployment rate, to achieve the career goals that you desire, certain changes must occur in both your life and daily work routine. It is imperative that these start today. Putting these changes off will only hinder your goals.
To guide you along the right career path, below, you will find four very easy, quick changes you can make at work that will greatly increase your odds of getting the promotion and obtaining the salary that you desire.

Start Associating Yourself With The More Successful Employees
To even be considered for a promotion, you must cease to be associated with the individuals who are troublesome in any manner. This pertains to the individuals who don't get along with the boss, don't like the company and / or who don't excel at their job.
If your friends at the office are not the rising stars, you're probably hanging out with the wrong crowd and you need to switch.
For any manager, to give a promotion to an employee can be quite stressful.
In the same exact fashion that you not wanting to be passed up for the advancement, your boss doesn't want to make the wrong decision regarding whom to promote.
Because this fear of failure, typically your manager will make a conservative decision as to whom they give the opportunity to.
For your supervisor, conservative decisions are easy - it's basic risk management.
Once you clearly visualize this decision making process through the eyes of your manager, your attitude and behavior instantaneously change.
To be given a promotion, your boss must trust you and must feel that you are highly responsible. One of the best ways to begin to increase your perceived reliability around the office is to stop associating with the average employees in the company.

Start Showing Up Earlier and Staying Later
The most successful people in life are the ones that show ambition and they are the ones that work tenaciously hard for their companies.
Following this simplistic model for success, it is imperative that you get into the habit of working additional hours. Starting today, it is crucial that you stop putting in the norm and begin staying overtime at the office. This is regardless as to whether you get paid to do so.
You'd be very surprised as staying those few extra hours is sure to catch your boss's attention. They will start to perceive you as someone who is reliable and who gives extra effort when necessary.
Remember. The less risky you make it for your boss to promote you, the more likely you are to be promoted.

Start Dressing Nicer To The Office
Many don't know this, but the way you dress is can almost instantaneously alter your boss's perception of you. Statistics tells us that the way we look to others is an important factor in both life and business.
If you begin dressing nicer and making sure that you come to work looking your best, the likelihood of grabbing your boss's attention will rise astronomically.
Promotions are always hard to come by. However, staying away from the bad crowd, putting in the few extra hours at the office and looking your best will increase your odds of getting any desired promotion significantly.
Now go out and face the world with so much confidence and great work and surely you'll get to the top.

How Do Great Employees Manage Their Work

 

How Do Great Employees  Manage Their Work

Being happy at work is, of course, quite related to how much you like your job, but there are small steps you can take to boost your mood. Maintaining the comfort of your body, sprinkling a few small pleasures throughout your day, using your time wisely – a little thought can mean a lot more happiness at work. “It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.”

Your work space:

1. Check for eyestrain: put your hand to your forehead in a salute. If your eyes feel relieved, your space is too bright.

2. Get a good desk chair at work and take the time to adjust it properly.

3. Sit up straight — every time I do, I instantly feel more energetic and cheerier.

4. Indulge in a modest splurge, i.e., consider whether there are ways to spend money that would make a big difference. Could you invest in some desk accessories to help you stay organized? Could you replace an inconvenient lamp with something that works better?

5. Get a phone headset. I resisted for a long time, but it’s really much more comfortable. The phone headset is like the rolling suitcase: yes, you look a little silly, but it makes life a lot easier.

6. Don’t keep treats around. A handful of M&Ms each day might mean a weight gain of five pounds by year’s end. My husband used to work at an office that kept a kitchen fully stocked with treats.

7. Periodically, take time to deep-clean the loose papers that have piled up at work.

8. Never say “yes” on the phone; instead, say, “I’ll get back to you.” When you’re actually speaking to someone, the desire to be accommodating is very strong, and can lead you to say “yes” without enough consideration.

9. Take care of difficult calls or emails as quickly as possible. Procrastinating just makes it harder; getting them done gives a big boost of relieved energy.

10. When accepting a responsibility, imagine that it’s something that you’ll have to do next week. That way you don’t agree to a task just because it seems so far off that it doesn’t seem onerous.

11. Be honest about how you manage your time. You feel overwhelmed, but are you really working hard? How much time do you spend surfing the internet, chatting on the phone, looking for things you’ve misplaced, or doing tasks that are really someone else’s job?

12. Go outside at least once a day, and if possible, take a walk. The sunlight and activity is good for your focus, mood, and retention of information.

13. Even if you can’t go outside, manage to have a ten-minute break each hour. Studies show that the break boosts your retention level at work.

14. Don’t let yourself get too hungry.

15. Try to make a lunch date with someone outside the office at least once a week.

16. Let yourself stay ignorant of things you don’t need to know.

1. Manage Your Priorities

Getting your priorities clear is the first and most essential step toward achieving a well-balanced life. The important point here is to figure out what you want your priorities to be, not what you think they should be.

contemplate on this questions:

1. If my life could focus on one thing and one thing only, what would that be?

2. If I could add a second thing, what would that be?

3. A third?

4. A fourth?

5. A fifth?

If you answer thoughtfully and honestly, the result will be a list of your top five priorities. a typical top-five list might include some of the following:

• Children
• Spouse
• Satisfying career
• Community service
• Religion/spirituality
• Health
• Sports
• Art
• Hobbies, such as gardening
• Adventure/travel

2. Drop Unnecessary Activities

By making a concrete list of what really matters to you, you may discover you're devoting too much time to activities that aren't a priority, and you can adjust your schedule accordingly. Drop any commitments and pursuits that don't make your top-five list, because "unnecessary activities keep you away from the things that matter to you."

3. Protect Your Private Time

You would probably think twice before skipping out on work, a parent-teacher conference, or a doctor's appointment. Your private time deserves the same respect. "Carve out hours that contribute to yourself and your relationship," Guard this personal time fervently and don't let work or other distractions intrude. "Stop checking email and cell phones so often.

If work consistently interferes with your personal time, discussing some adjustments with your boss is a help. Demonstrate that you can deliver the same or better results in fewer hours. Your job performance "should never be judged in terms of hours of input, Protecting your private time often leads to "greater satisfaction in both work life and personal life, greater productivity, and more creativity."

How to Get a Great Performance Review at Work

1. Assess your recent work accomplishments. When was the last time you achieved something at work that you’re proud of? What was that project or task? If you haven’t accomplished anything recently, then be proactive about finding responsibilities that challenge you. Take a look at your job description, and figure out what’s outdated and what you’d like to add. This is a great topic for discussion during your performance review.

2. Be as positive as possible, regardless of the situation at work. Whether you’re getting bad news during your employee evaluation or dealing with difficult coworkers every day, you need to keep a cheerful, friendly, positive attitude. Negativity drains energy, makes it difficult to successfully negotiate conflict at work, and decreases your job performance. Be slow to criticize or judge your clients, employees, or couriers – whether it's to their faces or behind their backs.

3. Prioritize your “to-do” list at work — and do the most important things first. Yes, you have a million things to do and a hundred clients to please and at least one difficult boss to placate, and everybody’s screaming “Give me attention now!!” To get ahead at work and achieve your career goals, prioritize your tasks from the most to least important. This doesn’t mean you always have to do the most important tasks first; in fact, taking care of the easier tasks (eg, filing paperwork or watering plants), can be an excellent way to take a break from your more stressful job responsibilities.

4. Sharpen your networking skills — especially if you have introverted personality traits. Introverts may need to force themselves to network, but networking with peers is one of the best ways to learn valuable information, stay connected to colleagues and mentors, and improve work relationships. Plus, a characteristic of a good employee is the ability to bring in new business and get along with clients, which is easier when you know how to network.

5. Master the fundamental aspects of your job. What are the basic requirements of your job description? Learn and master those. And, become adept at the small-but-crucial parts of being a great person to work with. For instance, an overlooked but often discussed item during a performance appraisal is the ability to show up at work, meetings, and workshops on time. Another important part of the job is asking for support if you can’t meet your deadlines. Be the employee you’d be glad to hire, supervise, and promote.

6. Express your interest in more challenging work responsibilities. A performance appraisal is a great time to send feelers out for a possible job promotion. Are you hoping to one day move into a different office, or your supervisor’s position? If your evaluation is going well, take the opportunity to express your eagerness to move your career to the next level.

7. Polish your job skills. If your biggest qualification for your job is that you’ve been doing it for ten years, consider taking a refresher, such as a job training course. Adult education classes or night school can improve your job performance, which will help you achieve your career goals. Professional workshops and work retreats can also help you network with other professionals, suss out new job opportunities, and improve your self-confidence at work. This all increases the chances of a great employee evaluation!

8. Stay as healthy as possible. Are you tired, sick, or absent often? Your performance review might reflect your health — even if you’re doing a great job at work! Take care of yourself.  Manage your health. Get plenty of sleep, eat nutritious food, and exercise regularly. Deal with your mental, emotional, or spiritual issues; don’t ignore your problems. Great employees are balanced in most areas of their lives.

Now Cheer Up and Be as Great as You Can!