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Strategy:How To Stop Counter-Productive Habits In 4 Seconds…We can Learn to Use the Space Between What we Feel & Do to Make Smarter Decisions

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Can you improve your relationships, increase your ability to focus and shut down counter-productive habits in just four seconds?

Cross Training

In his new book, Four Seconds: All the Time You Need to Stop Counter-Productive Habits and Get the Results You Want, Peter Bregman argues that the key to success in our fast-moving world is to pause for as few as four seconds—the length of a deep breath—to replace bad habits and reactions with more productive behaviors.

Bregman teaches that we can learn to use the space between what we feel and do to make smarter decisions—to take better actions. While the concept of mindfulness in business has recently reached new levels of popularity, Bregman is no newcomer to the idea or to the practice. He’s a coach to numerous CEOs and facilitates leadership workshops at The Esalen Institute and the Kripalu Retreat Center.

Using entertaining examples from his own life and career, Bregman shows how a four-second pause can be used to strengthen our relationships and to optimize our work habits.

                 How To Increase Follow Through

How often do you set New Year’s resolutions or other goals, only to fail in the execution? Bregman counter-intuitively suggests that it isn’t from a lack of motivation. If you weren’t motivated, you wouldn’t have set the goal in the first place. The problem is that your mind gets in the way of the follow through. Bregman writes:

If you want to follow through on something, stop thinking. Shut down the sabotaging conversation that goes on in your head before it starts…You’re smarter than your mind.

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 Stop Performing and Start Experiencing

Too often, we feel like we’re on a public stage being judged by the audience. And indeed, we are often judged and guilty of judging others too. But focusing on life as a performance, focusing on the judgment just increases our stress and reduces our ability to perform. It is far better to accept that we’ll never achieve perfection, we’ll always be learning, and we should enjoy the experience we are in. Bregman suggests that several times a day we just say to ourselves, “This is what if feels like to…” and focus on whatever we’re doing. When we’re focused on our feelings while in the middle of a task, we become mindful of the experience instead of the outcomes.

                      Say No To Establish Boundaries With Others

Saying yes to things that don’t support our strategic focus areas is a rampant disease. Whether out of habit, the desire to be helpful, or out of guilt too often our default is, “yes”. In order to create space and energy for things most important to us, Bregman suggests several ways to give a professional “no”.

He recommends always thanking the person for their request, as it’s a sign of trust and respect that they came to you to begin with. Realize that you aren’t rejecting the person, just their request. And be as resolute as they are persistent. Bregman models potential dialog, “I know you don’t give up easily—but neither do I. I’m getting better at saying no.”

For many of us, we immediately say things and take actions based on our prior habits or in response to our emotions. In Four Seconds, Bregman teaches us that to stay both sane and highly productive we must pause to take a breath, and be mindful in how we respond.

Forbes.com | March 27, 2015 | Kevin Kruse 

Your Career: 20 meaningful jobs that pay really well… A New Report from Payscale, There are Plenty of Jobs that Offer Both a Fat Paycheck & Satisfying Work

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It seems like there are only two options when it comes to choosing a career: We can either pursue a meaningful job and make next to nothing, or we can pull in a pretty penny working insanely long hours in an uninspiring, high-pressure role.  Turns out there’s a third option.

veterinarian

Veterinarians typically find their work to be meaningful — and high-paying.

According to a new report from Payscale, there are plenty of jobs that offer both a fat paycheck and satisfying work.

We sifted through Payscale’s data to find the 20 most meaningful jobs that pay $70,000 or more a year, on average.

Click here for more on the methodology. 

 

20. Nuclear Engineers

20. Nuclear Engineers

U.S. Army Europe Images/flickr

Median pay: $85,000

79% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

71% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

47% of employees say this job is stressful.

 

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19. Internists

19. Internists

AFP

Median pay: $192,900

79% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

71% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

82% of employees say this job is stressful.

18. Detectives and Criminal Investigators

18. Detectives and Criminal Investigators

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Median pay: $70,400

79% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

75% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

69% of employees say this job is stressful.

17. Physicists

17. Physicists

Dana Romanoff / Stringer / Getty Images

Median pay: $101,500

81% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

77% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

54% of employees say this job is stressful.

16. Obstetricians and Gynecologists

16. Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Daniel Lobo/flickr

Median pay: $203,100

81% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

56% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

88% of employees say this job is stressful.

15. Nuclear Medicine Technologists

15. Nuclear Medicine Technologists

COD Newsroom/flickr

Median pay: $70,400

81% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

78% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

60% of employees say this job is stressful.

14. Physician Assistants

14. Physician Assistants

COD Newsroom/flickr

Median pay: $88,200

83% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

80% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

73% of employees say this job is stressful.

13. Managers of Police and Detectives

13. Managers of Police and Detectives

Elvert Barnes/flickr

Median pay: $70,600

84% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

81% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

86% of employees say this job is stressful.

12. Medical and Health Services Managers

12. Medical and Health Services Managers

eagle102.net/flickr

Median pay: $70,500

85% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

82% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

82% of employees say this job is stressful.

11. Pediatricians

11. Pediatricians

John Moore/Getty Images

Median pay: $147,700

85% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

80% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

63% of employees say this job is stressful.

 

10. Family and General Practitioners

10. Family and General Practitioners

The National Guard via flickr

Median pay: $164,300

86% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

76% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

70% of employees say this job is stressful.

9. Dentists

9. Dentists

AP

Median pay: $130,000

86% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

84% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

64% of employees say this job is stressful.

8. Optometrists

8. Optometrists

Official U.S. Navy Page/flickr

Median pay: $101,400

86% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

77% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

52% of employees say this job is stressful.

7. Veterinarians

7. Veterinarians

John Moore / Getty Images

Median pay: $70,800

88% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

74% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

73% of employees say this job is stressful.

6. Podiatrists

6. Podiatrists

Heidi Jones/Getty Images

Median pay: $111,400

89% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

78% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

74% of employees say this job is stressful.

5. Psychiatrists

5. Psychiatrists

ALEXANDER KLEIN / Stringer / Getty Images

Median pay: $192,800

89% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

74% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

71% of employees say this job is stressful.

4. Physical Therapists

4. Physical Therapists

roger_mommaerts/flickr

Median pay: $72,800

90% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

82% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

56% of employees say this job is stressful.

3. Anesthesiologists

3. Anesthesiologists

isafmedia/flickr

Median pay: $291,300

91% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

78% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

79% of employees say this job is stressful.

2. Elementary/Secondary Education Administrators

2. Elementary/Secondary Education Administrators

Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs Office/flickr

Median pay: $75,900

93% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

87% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

85% of employees say this job is stressful.

1. Surgeons

1. Surgeons

Phalinn Ooi/flickr

Median pay: $299,600

94% of employees say this job is meaningful. 

82% of employees say this job is highly satisfying.

79% of employees say this job is stressful.

 

Businessinsider.com | March 27, 2015 | 

http://www.businessinsider.com/meaningful-high-paying-jobs-2015-3?op=1#ixzz3VcCuhNZg

Leadership: What Every New Manager Should being Doing for their First 3 Months on the Job…Even if you Think you Know What you’re Going to Do, you’ll Learn so Much & There’s isn’t Any Other Point in the Job Where You can Do That

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If you’ve taken over a new team at work, or started a new management job, you may feel the temptation to hit the ground running and dive right in to make changes.

sallie krawcheck

Sallie Krawcheck, the former president of the Global Wealth & Investment Management division of Bank of America, speaks during the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in New York June 3, 2013. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

However, that would be a mistake, according to Sallie Krawcheck, chair of global professional women’s network Ellevate and former CFO of Citigroup.

What you should really be doing is listening for about three months.

“Even if you think you know what you’re going to do, you’ll learn so much and there’s isn’t any other point in the job where you can do that,” said Krawcheck.

Krawcheck came to this realization back in 2002 when former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill asked her to head up Smith Barney, Citi’s then-new wealth management division. Suddenly she had tens of thousands of new employees, and while she understood the research side of Smith Barney’s business after running Sanford Bernstein’s research department, she wasn’t familiar with the wealth management side.

So Krawcheck went on tour, and sometimes Weill would join her. They flew around the country and talked to direct reports 3 to 5 levels below her, held town halls, and even made surprise visits to Smith Barney offices.

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One time, when Krawcheck tried to turn on a slide projector at a town hall. She found it wasn’t working — Weill had disconnected it.

“I went to push the clicker and there was nothing,” Krawcheck said. Weill was delighted.

“Here was the titan of industry at the top of his game… probably 2002… and he giggled.”

Weill knew that disabling the projector would force Krawcheck to listen, rather than talk, and Krawcheck got his message. After a productive three months of learning, listening gave her a solid idea of how Smith Barney worked and what she wanted to do with it.

Krawcheck started every new job with a three month listening tour from then on.

Businessinsider.com | March 27, 2015 | LINETTE LOPEZ

http://www.businessinsider.com/new-manager-advice-2015-3#ixzz3Vc67TqYc

Your Career: The Top 50 Dream Employers of Students Studying Math, Science, or Health…There’s a Common Thread among Undergraduates Studying Natural Science, Math, & Health: They all Tend To Have the Long-Term Career Goal of being Dedicated to a Cause

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There’s a common thread among undergraduates studying natural science, math, and health: They all tend to have the long-term career goal of being dedicated to a cause, says Melissa Bailey, an executive at Universum, a global research and advisory firm.

College Graduate

A new report from Universum supports her observation.

The research firm recently asked 22,976 of these undergraduates to choose the companies and organizations they’d consider working for from a list of 230 options. Next they asked respondents to choose the five employers they most want to work for.

Universum then put together a ranking of the most desirable employers, based on the percentage of students who chose a company as one of their top five “ideal” employers.

“It’s likely that many of these students strongly associate their top-choice employers with a cause they believe in — in this instance, advancing human health,” says Bailey. “This could be an explanation for why health care services organizations, as well as so many government and public sector organizations, performed so well this year.”

 

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The Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit medical practice and research group based in Rochester, Minnesota, came out on top, as a whopping 20.45% of science, math, and health undergrads named it their dream employer.

Here are the top 50:

BI_graphics_DreamJobLibArts_updated

Businessinsider.com | March 27, 2015 | 

Strategy: Save Yourself Time With A Time Audit…These can be Things that are Broken or Need Fixing, People who Drain your Time, or Time that you Habitually Waste

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Do you need more time? For most people, the answer is a resounding yes.Yet many of us waste time every day, or spend it on things that don’t make us satisfied. Time is a precious resource, so it is worth checking up on our spending now and again.

Clocks

Do you know exactly where your time goes?

By doing a time audit we can boost our productivity. It’s a way we can improve our time management skills, and make sure that we are using our time for the things we want to spend it on.

Often, time management is a case of redistributing our time. After all, we know that we’ll get 24 hours a day, every day; no more, no less. Some people tend to somehow be able to do a lot more with that same amount of time. How do they manage it?

Have a look at where your time is going:

Time drains

Identify any time drains during your day, and during your week. These can be things that are broken or need fixing, people who drain your time, or time that you habitually waste (for example getting your social media fix for longer than you’ve really got spare to spend). Make a list of these time drains. Identify the easiest one to deal with or cut down on, and tackle that first this week.

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People power

We spend a lot of our time working with, socialising with, and dealing with other people. Some people will waste your time, that’s a fact of life. Whether you choose to let them do this, however, is something that you have some control over. For example, the colleague at work who comes over to you every day with their problems (which are nothing to do with your direct work) and in doing so takes 15 of your minutes out of every single day. Make a list of the people who waste your time. Make a list of the people you want to spend time with. Make a list of the people who save you time.

Thinking time

Yes, we all need thinking time. But what do we actually spend this thinking time thinking of?  Start to become aware of what you are thinking about. How much time do you spend on repeated, negative thoughts? How much time do you spend worrying? How much time do you spend replaying negative events? And positive events? How much time do you spend replaying positive thoughts? How much time do you spend thinking about or planning positive things? As we spend a lot of our time thinking, it can be useful to guide your thoughts away from the negative and towards the positive … resulting in time better spent.

Improve your estimates

How long do you think a certain task will take? Start to ask yourself this with each task you do – however small – and see whether you overestimate or underestimate how long each thing takes. Often, we underestimate, then get stressed when things take longer than we anticipated. It’s stressful because we’ve booked other things in to that time, so if we overrun, the other things have to be pushed back. As you begin to notice exactly how long each task takes, your estimates should become more accurate, and you can allocate your time so there’s enough time for everything.

A less obvious trap we can also fall in to is taking a certain amount of time over something because we expect it to take that long. We linger and fill the time we’ve expected it to take. But particularly with the things we’re really good at, we might be able to do them far quicker than we expect. If it doesn’t take us very long, that shouldn’t be a problem. After all, it leaves us with plenty of time to spare …

Frances Booth is author of The Distraction Trap: How to Focus in a Digital World. To get your free first chapter of The Distraction Trap, and for more productivity tips, join her mailing list here

Forbes.com | March 27, 2015 | Frances Booth 

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Strategy: 10 Tips For Powerful PowerPoint Presentations…Don’t be in Competition with your PowerPoint for Attention

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I’ve given many presentations and some have been more successful than others. Even when it’s the same material. And very similar audiences. Something that I’ve learned: it’s easy to overlook one of the most crucial elements of giving presentations– make sure that your audience can easily focus on you and your slides.

 

 

Don’t be in competition with your powerpoint for attention. When giving a presentation, audience engagement is critical. When you are talking, you want the attention on your message and not on the mechanics of the presentation.

10 things to keep in mind to give a good (PowerPoint) presentation:

1. Arrive early
Don’t even think about arriving late or cutting it close. Audiences will lose patience quickly if you waste valuable time at the beginning of the presentation fiddling around. If you are delivering the presentation in a new environment for your audience, arrive even earlier. Get comfortable and familiar with the space. It will help minimize distractions if you can easily answer commonly asked questions, like where the bathrooms and power outlets are.

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2. Check the set up
Make sure the room is set up so everyone in your audience can easily see you and the screen. If some chairs or tables need to be moved to make it easier for everyone to participate, do it. If anything is blocking access for people to see you, move it. When people are uncomfortable trying to see, it will negatively impact your presentation. I’ve seen key decision makers come late to meetings, and sit in the last seats open. It is awkward and disruptive if they ask other people in the front to switch with them, and negative for your message if they get frustrated and leave because they can’t hear or see whats going on.

3. Test all technology before going live
Make sure your computer is plugged in or fully charged. If you don’t need wifi during the presentation, shut it off. If wifi is necessary, connect to the network beforehand. Turn off all notifications, shutdown Skype and all IM services, and close any extraneous webpages. If you will be sharing your screen or desktop, make it clutter free. If using fancy technology, make sure you are comfortable with it, and it doesn’t take over. Don’t overuse the laser pointer. Simply put: eliminate any distractions that could interrupt or distract from your presentation.

4. Mix it up
If your presentation is long and goes all day, or for a few days, consider breaking up the powerpoint to include video, a product demo, or a breakout session where people can talk. Play music before the presentation and during breaks to keep the energy level high. People generally have short attention spans, so jazz it up. I’ve noticed that most people’s attention begins to tap out around an hour of straight powerpoint.

5. If another person is going to “drive” the slide-show, or if you will be using a remote, make sure to practice
It is distracting and hard to focus when the presenter and the slideshow are out of synch. It also breaks the flow of the presentation if the attention shifts from the audience to the driver / computer / remote to move the slideshow forward. I generally prefer using a remote. Just make sure you are comfortable with the controls and don’t accidentally go to the beginning or end of the presentation when you just want to move one slide forward.

6. Maintain eye contact as much as possible
Try not to spend too much time looking at your computer, or the presentation screen. Look at your audience. As Mark Suster writes in a great blog post on Quick Practical, Tactical Tips for Presentations: “Your goal is to work the room, look people in the eyes, judge people’s responses to your presentation and engage.” It’s difficult to effectively communicate your message if you aren’t engaging with your audience.

7. When standing: If you’re in a culture that reads left to right, stand to the left of the projection screen
The audience’s attention and eyes will instinctually go to the left and follow you. If you stand to the right, many people will be following the left side of the screen, and it will be harder for them to follow you. If you’re presenting in a culture that reads right to left, stand on the right side of the screen. When traveling, bring a remote so you can easily move around if the podium or docking station is in the wrong place.

8. When sitting: Don’t sit at the opposite end of the table from the presentation! Sit close to the screen
If you sit across the room from your screen, your audience will need to choose between looking at you and looking at the screen. They will spend a lot of unnecessary time whipping their head back and forth, and you won’t be able to naturally engage with them.
9. When presenting with just your computer or deck: sit where it will be most natural for them to look
If your audience is right handed, it will be easier for them to follow your presentation if you sit to their right. Similarly, when giving the presentation to a left handed person, sit on their left. Left handed people will naturally gravitate towards looking towards looking to their left.

10. Plan to end 5 minutes early
People are busy. Respect your audience’s time. Start the presentation promptly, and plan to end a bit early. Watch your pacing throughout the presentation and make sure you aren’t spending too much time on any one point. By giving yourself a buffer, you’ll avoid rushing towards the end. If you have a few minutes left, let the audience know you will stick around if they have any follow up questions or comments. Don’t run late. Even finishing 5 minutes late can inconvenience your audience and leave people feeling rushed and anxious — not the feelings you want the audience to feel leaving your presentation. Always end on a high note.

What is the best way to give a PowerPoint presentation?: originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

Forbes.com | March 23, 2015 | Quora Contributor

Your Career: The Best Advice Career Experts Ever Received…They Make their Living Giving other People Career Advice, but what were the Words of Wisdom that Helped them?

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Career coaches spend their days doling out advice to help people get ahead. But what advice did they get that helped them along the way?

First Sun Success Series

We asked five successful career coaches what was the best career advice they ever received. Here, the words of wisdom that’s stuck with them through the years.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GREAT PEOPLE

Roughly 15 years ago, Jeff Wolf, author of Seven Disciplines of a Leader, and founder and president, Wolf Management Consultants in Chicago, had just come out of corporate America. During a conversation about business and leadership, his father-in-law, a consultant, told him, “Make sure you surround yourself with great people.” Wolf was in the process of building his team, which now totals 55, and thought about how much better has CEO life had been when he was surrounded by top talent.

He says that being careful in selecting his team members “helped the company weather the recession.” Not only were they able to come up with solutions and look for opportunities that contributed to the business. In addition, their skills and expertise were so strong that they helped Wolf’s management consulting firm land business even when companies were sharply pulling back their spending on outside consulting services, he says.

STRETCH BEYOND YOUR COMFORT ZONE

While working at the University of Washington, Robin Ryan was considering a career in speaking and teaching when she met a fellow speaker who told her she needed a book. Ryan had never thought about writing a book. “Grammar is not my forte,” she says.

But she took a class on writing a book proposal and began to research the process of writing a book. She sent out 24 proposals to various publishing houses and sold her book, 60 Seconds And You’re Hired, based on an interviewing class she taught. In 2016, the book’s sixth edition will be released, and she’s gone on to write several other books. She’s been featured in many national publications and has been a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NBC News and many others and has a thriving career coaching practice. But none of that would have happened if she hadn’t have taken on a challenge that wasn’t a natural fit for her and for which she had to work hard to achieve, she says.

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DO WHAT YOU LOVE—EVEN IF IT’S UNCOMFORTABLE

Former Marine Courtney Lynch was working at a large law firm when she had the opportunity to go off on her own and start a leadership development company. But who ditches a cushy law gig in pursuit of something so amorphous without any promises? Lynch turned to her financial advisor for a reality check.

“She told me she could put me in a lot of different investment products, but in the end, she couldn’t sell me an investment better than investing in myself,” she says.

The advisor also said that Lynch couldn’t save her way to security, but that her talent was her true safety net and that she would be wise to follow it. Lynch made the leap and her book, Leading From the Front: No-Excuse Leadership Tactics For Women, was published by McGraw-Hill. It became a best-seller, and as founding partner of Fairfax, Virginia-based LeadStar, she consults with companies like Merrill Lynch, ESPN and Google to help develop leaders within organizations. She uses her personal example to illustrate to her clients what’s possible.

WORK HARD AND SMART

When Lorenzo G. Flores was just starting out as a psychiatric social worker, one of his bosses took him aside and gave him a few words of wisdom: there’s no substitute for hard work, but you also need to know the politics of the organization. In an age where “work smarter not harder” is the mantra, he says his mentor’s advice was a more pragmatic approach. Working hard is important, especially when you’re first starting out. However, you need to know where hard work is valued so your efforts are generating results that are important to those in charge, he says.

“It comes down to that 80/20 rule. Where do put your emphasis? What do you do best? What seem to be the boss’s priorities? All of that is critical to repositioning yourself for career advancement,” he says.

Flores worked his way up to a department director position using this philosophy. He now owns a Fresno, California coaching practice, which helps individuals and companies develop career advancement tactics, using a book and board game he self-published based on the concept.

SHOW YOUR WORK—AND YOUR WORTH

Nicole Williams, founder of New York City-based career consulting firm Works, took to heart the old writing chestnut, “Show, don’t tell.” She sees it as the notion of focusing on outcomes and demonstrating your value rather than just talking about it.

“If you spend a lot of time talking, it’s a sure sign to your managers and clients that you’re uncertain,” she says.

Instead, put your effort in and deliver results, she says. Be a problem-solver, focus on solutions, and make an impact. This approach has helped her build her firm to include corporate and college consulting and working with brands. Her commitment to results has even attracted private investment from business development lab Loeb Enterprises. She also uses this mantra as a litmus test to determine how serious people are when they ask for her help, requesting that they send her a summary of how they’d like her assistance.

“If you can’t send me a one-pager, within a reasonable amount of time, which is a week, you know, I kind of just cross you off the list of potentials, because you just haven’t responded,” she says.

 

Fastcompany.com |  March 26, 2015 | 

Gwen Moran writes about business, money and assorted other topics for leading publications and web sites.

Strategy:10 Reasons you Should Wake Up Earlier — & How to Do It..Don’t make Drastic Changes. Start Slowly, by Waking just 15-30 Minutes Earlier than Usual.

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“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” — Ben Franklin, famously

“Put no trust in the benefits to accrue from early rising, as set forth by the infatuated Franklin …” — Mark Twain

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Let the sun in to get started on the right foot.

Let the sun in to get started on the right foot.

Recently, reader Rob asked me about my habit of waking at 4:30 a.m. each day, and asked me to write about the health benefits of rising early, which I thought was an excellent question.

Unfortunately, there are none, that I know of.  However, there are a ton of other great benefits.

Now, let me first say that if you are a night owl, and that works for you, I think that’s great. There’s no reason to change, especially if you’re happy with it. But for me, switching from being a night owl to an early riser (and yes, it is possible) has been a godsend. It has helped me in so many ways that I’d never go back. Here are just a few:

1. Greet the day.

I love being able to get up, and greet a wonderful new day. I suggest creating a morning ritual that includes saying thanks for your blessings.

I’m inspired by the Dalai Lama, who said, ” Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ ”

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2. Amazing start.

I used to start my day by jumping out of bed, late as usual, and rushing to get myself and the kids ready, and rushing to drop them to school and come in to work late. I would walk into work, looking rumpled and barely awake, grumpy and behind everyone else. Not a great start to your day.

Now, I have a renewing morning ritual, I’ve gotten so much done before 8 a.m., my kids are early and so am I, and by the time everyone else gets in to work, I’ve already gotten a head start. There is no better way to start off your day than to wake early, in my experience.

3. Quietude.

No kids yelling, no babies crying, no soccer balls, no cars, no television noise. The early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet. It’s my favorite time of day. I truly enjoy that time of peace, that time to myself, when I can think, when I can read, when I can breathe.

4. Sunrise.

People who wake late miss one of the greatest feats of nature, repeated in full stereovision each and every day — the rise of the sun. I love how the day slowly gets brighter, when the midnight blue turns to lighter blue, when the brilliant colors start to seep into the sky, when nature is painted in incredible colors.

I like doing my early morning run during this time, and I look up at the sky as I run and say to the world, “What a glorious day!” Really. I really do that. Corny, I know.

5. Breakfast.

Rise early and you actually have time for breakfast. I’m told it’s one of the most important meals of the day. Without breakfast, your body is running on fumes until you are so hungry at lunchtime that you eat whatever unhealthy thing you can find — the fattier and sugarier, the betterier.

But eat breakfast, and you are sated until later. Plus, eating breakfast while reading my book and drinking my coffee in the quiet of the morning is eminently more enjoyable than scarfing something down on the way to work, or at your desk.

6. Exercise.

There are other times to exercise besides the early morning, of course, but I’ve found that while exercising right after work is also very enjoyable, it’s also liable to be canceled because of other things that come up. Morning exercise is virtually never canceled.

7. Productivity.

Mornings, for me at least, are the most productive time of day. I like to do some writing in the morning, when there are no distractions, before I check my email or blog stats.

I get so much more done by starting on my work in the morning. Then, when evening rolls around, I have no work that I need to do, and I can spend it with family.

8. Goal time.

Got goals? Well, you should. And there’s no better time to review them and plan for them and do your goal tasks than first thing. You should have one goal that you want to accomplish this week.

And every morning, you should decide what one thing you can do today to move yourself further towards that goal. And then, if possible, do that first thing in the morning.

9. Commute.

No one likes rush-hour traffic, except for Big Oil. Commute early, and the traffic is much lighter, and you get to work faster, and thus save yourself more time. Or better yet, commute by bike. (Or even better yet, work from home.)

10. Appointments.

It’s much easier to make those early appointments on time if you get up early. Showing up late for those appointments is a bad signal to the person you’re meeting. Showing up early will impress them. Plus, you get time to prepare.

How to Become an Early Riser

  • Don’t make drastic changes. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
  • Allow yourself to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.
  • Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
  • Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room. My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.
  • Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.
  • Have a good reason. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason.
  • Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.
  • Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kids’ lunches, on planning for the rest of the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 a.m. rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

 

Businessinsider.com | March 25, 2015 | LEO BABAUTA, ZEN HABITS

http://zenhabits.net/10-benefits-of-rising-early-and-how-to-do-it/#ixzz3VQxGpL2f

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Your Career: Company seeking Manufacturing Engineer, Charlotte, NC… Cold-Forming Tooling

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Description of Position:

 

 

 Manufacturing Engineer, Cold-Forming Tooling

 

Our client, a F500 manufacturing company, seeks an experienced cold-forming manufacturing engineer for their North Carolina facility.  If you are a mechanical engineer and have experience with machines manufactured by companies like Formax, Nakashimata, or Carlo Salvi, this may be the opportunity for you.  This is a division of a household-name brand manufacturer that is growing rapidly both organically and through acquisition.  Great growth opportunity in a new sector of the business.

 

Salary:   to $95K (DOE), plus significant benefits package

 

Industry:    Industrial / Manufacturing

 

Location:     Charlotte, NC.  Preference given to local candidates

 

Key Responsibilities:

 

Evaluate design and application of cold forming tooling to develop new fasteners on commercial cold heading machines Validate new products and tools for smooth transfer to manufacturing, utilizing Six Sigma principles.

Perform FEA analysis (DEFORM) to shorten product development design cycle.

Must demonstrate experience carrying project from design through prototyping and startup manufacturing

 

Position Requirements: ​

 

Four-year degree in mechanical engineering Minimum 5-10 years’ experience in designing cold forming tooling.

Proficient in 2D, CAD mechanical design at minimum; 3D prefer Knowledge of cold forming aluminum, steel, & stainless steel wire preferred Good understanding of secondary processes required to finish product: heat treatment, annealing, thread rolling, finishing, plating Basic understanding of metallurgy Experience with aerospace materials a plus Strong team and oral/written communication skills

 

To apply: Cut and paste the following link or go to our website, www.schegggroup.com and click on Search:

http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH08/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=SCHEGG&cws=1&rid=278

 

Strategy: 3 Lies We Tell Ourselves When We Say ‘Yes’ To Work We Hate…Research also Shows that Earning $75 000/year is the Threshold Above Which your Day-to-Day Happiness No Longer Increases with More Money

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Last week, I had an interesting conversation with the owner of a growing marketing firm. The talk turned to problem clients and the owner expressed a hope that one day he’d get to a point where his business would be stable enough that he could turn down work that seemed like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth. He just didn’t feel like he had the luxury of making that choice yet. He was in a place many entrepreneurs, freelancers and job seekers find ourselves in at some point in our careers — saying yes because we feel we can’t say no.

Clock Man

If you’ve ever been in that bind, you likely tried to rationalize your doomed decision with one of the following lies:

1- “I might not get another chance.”

While it’s true that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, if the bird you have in your hands is a turkey, it’s better to take a pass. Saying yes to ill-fitting opportunities because you feel like something better might not come along is a decision born of insecurity and superstition, as if by passing on something that isn’t a good fit you’re thumbing your nose at the universe and daring it to punish your hubris by denying you future opportunities. When you stop to think about that assumption for a minute, it begins to sounds kind of absurd.

Instead, try flipping this thinking around. It’s selfish to accept an opportunity that you’re ambivalent about  because you’re taking that possibility away from someone who’d be a much better and more enthusiastic fit. A colleague of mine uses similar logic when hiring. He wants his team members to be focused on work they absolutely love doing because he feels that’s the best way to encourage productivity and keep morale high. If there’s something they aren’t crazy about (copywriting, event planning, analytics), he’d rather hire another person who does love that kind of work to take on those tasks than have his direct reports splitting their focus between projects they love and work they only do because they have to.

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2- “This will open the door to other opportunities.”

This argument is the slightly more upscale cousin of the one struggling young writers are served up by those who want to them to create content for “exposure” only and it’s just as flawed. How likely is the client from hell to recommend you for other assignments? How motivated will you be to put in the kind of effort you can leverage into bigger and better things if your workplace is a toxic nightmare? And while it’s possible that taking on work you dislike will lead to other opportunities, it’s more than likely they will be similar to what you already hate. Congratulations, you’ve built yourself a pipeline of leads that are exactly what you were trying to escape from in the first place.

3- “It’s good money.”

There’s a distinct difference between taking on unpleasant work out offinancial necessity and letting dollar signs be the deciding factor on which opportunities you elect to pursue. Think of students who choose a major based on earning potential or convince themselves that the path to a secure future runs straight through an MBA program or law school (spoiler alert: it doesn’t). For all the flak they catch, Millennials are on to something here when it comes to the idea you can buy your way to happiness (or out of unhappiness) with a fat paycheck.

A 2014 Intelligence Group survey found that almost two-thirds of Millennials would prefer to make $40 000/year at a job they loved than earn $100 000/year at one that bored them. Research also shows that earning $75 000/year is the threshold above which your day-to-day happiness no longer increases with more money.

When you find your will to resist a less-than-stellar gig being swayed by the promised payday, ask yourself what you’ll have to trade to cash in. A lucrative contract seems less appealing when it means putting in 65-hour weeks, being at a client’s (or boss’s) beck and call 24/7 and seeing your quality of life decline even as you’re doing the work you convinced yourself would allow you to improve it. Funny how that plays out.

 

Forbes.com | March 23, 2015 | 

J. Maureen HendersonJ. Maureen Henderson Contributor