In the last part of “Do You Have a Life Plan” I had you write out lists based on Career, Financial and Personal Goals. Before moving on to the next step, I want to take a closer look at each category to be sure you’ve thought each one through completely.

Career Goals

Obviously, step 1 is deciding on a career. Once you’ve done that you need to evaluate if you have the necessary education and skills for that career choice. If you don’t, you will need to include in your plan what steps you will need to accomplish them. What classes will you need, where are they offered, what will be the cost, is there the possibility of an apprenticeship… I have a friend who decided he wanted his MBA but after looking into it realized he would not be able to afford it. After weighing many options he decided to join the military. He researched and set up his plan so that he could accomplish his goal by having the military pay for his schooling in exchange for his future service.

Let’s assume you already have the education and skills needed. Now you need a plan to get the job you want. Include things like talking to people in that job and researching companies in that field. You may realize that you will have to start at a lower salary or in a department, or even a location, that you don’t want in order to get experience or connections to eventually advance to your dream career. Another friend took a 1-year posting in Nigeria to get experience. He still says it was the worst year of his life but when he came home he had his pick of companies to work for.

Look back over the Career list of goals you’ve previously made. Does the list cover everything? If not add to it.

You’ve made your original lists and now you’ve given the category of Career a lot more thought. Next time we’ll expand on your Financial goals to make sure you’ve got them covered.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. ~Don Marquis

Are you one of those people that will put off doing something until the very last minute and then wait 30 more seconds before doing it? Do you have trouble keeping up with last week much less yesterday? You are not alone. Many people suffer from the same problem but we have some advice to help you beat procrastination once and for all.

Steps to Beat Procrastination

1. Organize. One of the best ways to beat procrastination is to organize your tasks. Organization leads to you knowing what you have to do at all time. This can be a nice buffer between you and your anxiety about finishing the project at hand.Organize your project into smaller chunks. That way not only will the task seem less daunting, when you finish a section you will have achieved a sense of accomplishment. This reinforcement is important for it will make you look forward to doing another chunk of the task. Also, waiting until the end for your sense of accomplishment can lead to negative effects. One being that the reinforcement will not be psychologically related to the task that you completed. You will be exhausted after having finished such a huge task. Finally, you might not even finish the task that you have set forward to finish.
2. Have a task room. Do not play in the room where you do your work and do not work in the room you play in. This will increase the urge to play! The room will have become associated with playing making it impossible to focus on the well organized plan in front of you. Play does not have a deadline, but work does.
3. Reward. The reward of accomplishment after having finished a section can only carry a person so far. Suddenly, focus will shy away from what was completed, to what is left to be completed. This can get overwhelming, depending on the size of the task. A simple way to negate this effect is to reward yourself at the end of each section that you complete. Relax, grab a coffee or tea, sit in front of the television for 20 minutes. Even have some sort of special reward, for example, special foods that you only get once completing sections of your project. Do not, however, eat it whenever, for then the reward will become unassociated with the completion of the task.
4. It isn’t all or nothing. Do not think that these tips are a “change everything in a second” tool. People like quick fixes, and that is why they do not work. If you have a pattern of procrastinating chances are it has been ingrained into your pattern of behavior for a very long time. You will not wake up tomorrow and have beaten procrastination. This is just as likely as you wanting to lose 50 pounds and waking up the next morning and, surprise! You are now 50 pounds lighter without having put in any effort at all. If you think there are quick fixes in life, you will only cause yourself more anxiety when you fail.
5. Don’t fret, it’s not over. Organizing and rewarding will seem to work some days and not others. Some days you will fail to finish a section of a project because your favorite television show was doing a six hour marathon of reruns! Or people came over! Or…The best way to handle these situations is to not blame yourself, do not stress. Stress and anxiety will hinder your ability to catch up and finish the project.

Don’t fret, just reorganize your schedule.

I believe that everyone should have a written life plan and that plan should be broken down to cover 5 time periods; the 1 month, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years plan. In each of these time periods you will have to clearly define points covering career, financial and personal goals.

The easiest way to start your plan is to take out 3 sheets of paper. Label them: Career, Finance and Personal. Write out every goal you can think of, under the appropriate category, that you want to achieve. Don’t put a time limit on them. You can include taking a long weekend at a friend’s cottage next month and your desire to sail around the world after you retire. Include paying off small debts and your retirement goals. At this point, don’t edit your thoughts and don’t worry about the time line by which you hope to accomplish them, just write whatever comes to mind. Take your time, review, add or remove things. Think each goal through and make sure it is something that you are willing to work towards.

Don’t worry if your papers are a mess because you will be rewriting them anyway. Next time I want to break down each category; Career Goals, Financial Foals and Personal Goals, to give you a better idea exactly what you should include on those lists.

Working from home is not always as easy as it may seem. Many times people think that you’re not capable of having a real job just because you’re not doing what a regular corporation employee is doing. Wake up, dress up, coffee in the subway, morning talk with your colleagues, meetings and so on, this is what people expect from a responsible person.

However since I’ve seen so many stories with people earning lots of money doing it from home by combining business with pleasure, I can tell you a few tips you should take into consideration.

What should I do in the morning? This is a very good question and the answer is simple. Stay in pole-position and be the first to start.

1. Don’t oversleep. The human body, usually refreshes after 7-8 hours of sleep, that if you’re not losing your nights, going to sleep in the morning. Sleeping from 11 pm and waking up at 7 am always worked for me. I always wake up early in the morning just to breathe a less polluted air.
2. Exercise. You’re thinking how you can not properly exercise in the morning and decide not to do it, then you’re kidding yourself. I’m not talking about heavy lifting or a marathon, simple stretching positions, jogging or a dog walk will do.
3. Take a shower. Lots of people say that a shower in the morning ease their awakening and if you can alternate hot and cold water it will help strengthen and normalize the nervous, circulatory, endocrine and immune systems.
4. Eat a healthy breakfast. I’ve said it many times that it’s imperative to eat healthy so keep in mind that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The food you eat in the morning is what gives you the energy and power to work all day long.
5. Keep your room clean. Don’t think that after getting out of bed the room shouldn’t be cleaned. Make your bed and leave it in order, you’ll thank yourself when you get back to it for a nap or at night, to sleep. Make it a habit to keep everything clean from the beginning.
6. Change your clothes. You are starting a new day and you need all the energy you can get. Every day needs to be special, and you’ll give just about everything to “conquer the world”. Is this how you wanna do it, in your pajamas? Use comfortable clothes.
7. Head to your office. I am not sure how big your house or apartment is, or if you can afford to “sacrifice” a room for the office, but you may want to keep it away from your sleeping area (even from your eating area). You need fresh energy and you won’t get it in your bedroom. Just the idea of going to the office, be it at home or not, makes people think they are important and improves their focus.

How to improve your work day is just as important as the Formula1 start I was talking above, because it’s not enough to be the first, what’s more important is to keep your position.

1. Concentrate on your work. Being at home is most of the time associated with a combination of work and life at the same time. However, you should be aware that you should dedicate most of your attention to your business. Of course kids and house problem may occur from time to time, so solve, and get back to work.
2. Schedule your working hours. You’re ambitious and decided to work 9-10 hours a day. Sticking to it is the most important thing. Keep in mind that you need social life, too, make room for it.
3. Keep distractions away. You can put your cellphone on silent with visual alert only, disable any Instant Messaging programs and open your email every three hours. The days when I have email and IM on, are the least productive for me.
4. Prioritize. There you go, everything set and you see a bunch of papers on your table. First thing you should do is to prioritize everything, but make sure you have time to do get everything done by the end of the day. The things that need your immediate attention should be started first.
5. The one-hour break. If you’re doing great and feel like you shouldn’t stop in a million years, I advise you to do it. One hour for you to have lunch, some fun with your pet or a 20-minutes power nap could be an ideal break. Don’t worry you won’t lose your wave, you’ll just relax your muscles and your mind to have the power to sustain the flow.
6. Drink plenty of water. The body needs water to function just as it needs air. If you the air you breath as much as you need, same thing should apply for water and scientists have found that the human body needs 8 to 10 glasses of water each day. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty because, thirstiness is a sign that your body lost water and it needs it.
7. Keep your desk clean if you want to be productive during the day, and don’t if you want to search for your documents a few hours.
8. Find ways to relax. If you want my example then I tell you that I listen to music while I work, because it always gives me a more positive state of mind, and keeps stress away. I do have a habit of taking half a minute breaks when I lean back in my chair. Find yours!
9. Anger is useless. A business cannot be a real one if it won’t have negative points. One day you can lose a contract, and the next day you can get yourself a bigger one. The point is that anger won’t solve anything. No one will give your contract back just because you was angry, but persuading the person that you’re skills and your work are high quality might. Anger will only make you see the problem in low light and won’t get you any solutions.
10. Moderation. Being funny but also responsible is the key to a good business, therefore you should find the right recipe that suits you best.

I am not sure if you’re doing a few of those, all or none, but I know how it helped me so far. Now if you have anything to add to my small list then I would appreciate your comments below.

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Many of us wish a perfect peaceful life, with routine keeping us safe from trying new things that could bring up disappointments in a world full of uncertainties. However, this is a bigger and sometimes smarter mechanism than us, that we belong to and it’s called comfort.

Bad Perspectives of Comfort

As long as you lose your motivation or faith for a better life just because what you’re

experiencing right now is convenient, is the biggest trap comfort can bring: you’ll say thank you to mediocrity and will be the prisoner of your daily surety. Same job, same road pattern, same restaurant, same resort for your vacation. You need to diversify your life.

Positive Comfort

Having a peaceful state of mind that will allow you to concentrate or will motivate you for fighting for your dreams then that’s a good thing. You should be able to take risks in order to get what you’ve decided, and to get past that dead point.

Now if you think you need to get out of the routine and do something new, I have 5 small steps that you can take. Some are easier to take and will take a strong will but unless you do so you will be trapped in your convenient lifestyle.

1. Set your goals. Setting goals is not an easy thing to do, but unless you know what you’re running for, you won’t be able to cross by on difficult road. Think how would you like your life to be or how to get old turned into new, and you have your goal. Taking up a sport, a better job, a dog or maybe a soul mate are just a few things people usually do to keep the comfort trap away.
2. Identify what’s wrong. You should be able to analyze your life up to the smallest detail and see if there is something you would like to change. That’s how you’re going to achieve what you planned.
3. Win some, lose some. You are going to change something to your life, therefore you should know you gain something and you give up to something. Think of changing your job that involves moving to another city or country. You leave behind all your family and friends but you’re up for a new experience, which is something you’ve wanted for so long.
4. Fight your own fears. When someone needs to change something big in their lives they always think what will others think or feel. So many times we stop doing what we desire just to make someone else happy. Unless you fight these fears you won’t step off your routine.
5. Don’t delay, just act. How many times you’ve heard of relationships where the couple won’t break up because one could be hurt or because they will have to split friends. We all need to make decisions, even if they will change our destiny more than we expect. What’s important is not to give up to your dreams when it’s harder. You’ll end up saying “I cannot believe that I did it. “

If your boss tells you he wants you to “be more proactive”, s/he doesn’t want you to go out and buy acne treatment. You are being asked to be more aware of your work environment and anticipate problems.

Merriam-Webster defines proactive as: [2pro- + reactive] : acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.

While the concept seems simple enough, being able to foresee those future problems, needs and changes are not.

Most employees are reactive. A problem arises and they seek out and implement solutions. A proactive employee is one who has a plan in case something goes wrong or who is prepared for a future event that is going to happen.

For example: You are in charge of a organizing a company workshop. Previous times employees have shown up without any means to take notes so you make sure that each employee is given a pad and pen upon entering the seminar.

Another example would be you have a large printing job to be done. You ensure, in advance, that there is enough ink and paper and warn other employees so that they can make alternate plans should they have printing jobs to be done.

Depending on the size of the project you may need to have a lot of back-up plans. You must constantly be asking yourself “What will I do if…” Obviously you cannot foresee every potential problem but the more prepared you are, the more likely that you can compensate should a situation occur.

In your day to day tasks, you should know it well enough to be able to predict potential problems. However, usually knowing your own job is not enough. You need to make the effort to be aware of how your job interacts with others and the flow of operations within your company.

Proactive employees are more efficient, they are less stressed and cause less stress. They are more appreciated than the employee who simply reacts to problems. However, there is a drawback. If you are good at foreseeing and preventing problems most people are not even aware of your efforts. The plus is that people will often remark, with admiration, that your tasks seem to always run smoothly and without major incident.

It is up to you to decide what kind of employee you want to be. Do you want to be the one reacting to situations? The one running around like a chicken with its head cut off solving problems after they happen? Or do you want to be the one that says to your boss, “I planned in case this happened, here’s what we can do instead”?

How do you know if you’re burnt out or you’re just feeling tired?

Burnout is considered an emotional state where you are emotional and physically exhausted. Usually, burnout caused by excessive and prolonged stress when someone is overwhelmed and unable to meet workplace demands. You lose interest and your productivity and energy decreased. You feel trapped in your job, you become detached,withdrawn, you are frustrated and feel drained of energy. You feel sad and irritable and have a cynical edge to your outlook in life and at work. You may find yourself wanting to sleep all the time and you may seek out ways to escape by drinking, drugs, eating or shopping binges.The difference between stress and burnout is a fine line. If you are stressed over your work, you are capable of seeing that once the project is completed things will fall back into place. With burnout you are unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, you are spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere.

Ways to Avoid Burnout at Work

Get a Clear Job Description
If you are unsure exactly what you are suppose to be doing, you may be doing too much. If you feel that you cannot possibly accomplish the tasks you’ve taken on, this can lead to burnout.

Transfer within your Company or Ask for New Duties
If you’ve been doing the same tasks for a long time try a lateral move. Changing up your work environment can relieve stress and make the day more interesting and thus more productive.

Change Jobs
Find something, within your field, that is different from what you are currently doing. Again, changing things up in your daily routine can ease the stress that leads to burnout.

Change Careers
If you feel that it is the career you’ve chosen and not the environment that is causing your burnout, decide on something new. Start taking whatever training you need and slowly educate yourself in this new area.

Your personal life also contributes to decreasing your stress levels. Be sure to take the time to interact with people, be it close personal relationships or social ones. Everyone needs to blow off steam and feel appreciated for who they are, not just what they do. Doing charity or community work, take up a sport or taking up a new hobby is a good way to combat stress. The most important aspect to avoiding burnout is to change your outlook. Find social interactions and activities that are pleasurable for you and that will take your focus off the stress at work.

If you find that no matter what attempts you make to change feelings of hopelessness and helplessness you can’t seem to pull yourself out, it is time for professional help. Seek out counseling in your community to help get you through the situation.

I have a friend of mine who is the least stressed person I have ever met. I asked him his secret and he said, “Whenever I find myself stressing over something I ask myself ‘In 100 years will anyone care?’. Oddly enough the answer has always been ‘No!’ and that gives me the perspective I need to not take things overly seriously.”

So ask yourself….”In 100 years….?”

You have a “situation”, if needs to be resolved but you just can’t get your head around it. You’re stuck. Try these steps to help solve your problem.

1. What is the problem?

Write down exactly what the problem is. Concrete facts that clearly define the problem.

2. Causes of the problem.

Again write them all down. Sometimes knowing what caused the situation helps you get to the root and thus to a solution.

3. Possible solutions

There are a few ways to come up with solutions. You could make a list of every possible solution, from the impossible to the insane. ie: Need money: Win lotto, rob bank, get another job, budget, borrow… Brainstorm with friends or family. People are great resources for solutions. Research the problem. Go to the library or search on the internet. It’s doubtful that you are the first person to ever experience the problem so there is likely a solution out there for you.

4. Narrow list to the best solution

Some solutions will be easy to eliminate, robbing bank is not the best solution for being short on cash. Depending on winning the lotto neither.  Narrow done the list to solutions that have a chance of working. Number the remaining solutions according to how likely they are to work. Choose the best one.

5. Plan of Action

Write out the steps you will need to take to implement the solution.  Be specific. If you’ve decided you need to get a 2nd job to solve your money problem, list the steps you will take to acquire the job, what you will do with the money once you are paid, how you will prevent yourself from spending it frivolously.

6. Implement the plan

This one is easy, take the steps that you’ve written out in step 5 and put them into action.

7. Evaluate

You’ve put the plan in motion now you have to evaluate whether the plan is accomplishing your goal. With the money shortage example, you may find that 2nd job is costing you more in traveling or babysitting than you are making or you might find that the problem is solved.

8. Start over again.

If you’ve found that the solution you’ve chosen isn’t working start the whole process over again. Define the problem, its causes and solutions again. Maybe you missed something the first time, maybe your situation has changed and you need a new solution.

These are some pretty basic steps to problem solving. Write everything down. It is easier to think something through when you can see it. You are less likely to forget the bits and pieces of the problem and solution if they are written. You will also have it in writing to be able to go back over should your solution fail or should you encounter a similar situation at a later date.

[photo source: Flickr]

How do you know, really KNOW, if you are in the wrong job, if it’s better for you to change jobs or stick with the one you have? How do you know you’re not just in a slump at work, that it’s not temporary boredom or frustration?

You know you are in the wrong job if …

1. No matter how much you are being paid, you still hate your job. You don’t want to get up in the morning and you don’t look forward to your day.

2. Your day passes and you’ve learned nothing, you are just stagnating.

3. You don’t get positive feedback from your bosses. You feel like you are of no value and have no purpose. You often ask yourself, “Why am I here?” or “Why am I doing this?

4. You feel underpaid for the quality and quantity of work you do.

5. You and the company are too different. The environment is too formal or too relaxed for you.

6. You dislike management/your boss so much that it has become the focus of your work day and your time off.

7. You feel angry and overwhelmed a large part of the time.

8. Your stress levels are always on high alert. You find yourself often sick from stress related illnesses. Headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, etc.

If you are experiencing these situations, you need to find your career passion. Something interesting and that, at times, will completely absorb you. Once you find your passion most of these will not happen. However, you will still need to find the specific job that meets your specific needs and suits your specific character.

If you now know you’re in the wrong job, nobody but you can change it. So do something about it now!

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There is little that is more condescending and arrogant than a person that is constantly late. Not only is being late rude, it is disrespectfully of other people. Try these tips to break yourself of the late habit.

1. Never assume that being late is all right. Never allow yourself the luxury of saying to yourself, “It’s only a few minutes,” “It’s only half an hour.” You are not more important than the person you are meeting nor is your time more valuable. Never be so arrogant as to expect other people to adapt their lives and schedules to your timetable.

2. Use an agenda. With everyone having at minimum a cell phone and at best an electronic agenda there is no excuse for completely forgetting or being late for an appointment. Enter the appointment time PLUS travel time and time to finish with whomever you are previously meeting. Not giving yourself enough time between meeting is a surefire way to repetitively be late.

3. Assume that what will go wrong usually does. Allow yourself “crisis time” so that if you do run into traffic or your previous meeting runs over, you will have the extra time to make the next meeting as scheduled.

4. Don’t overbook yourself. Setting back to back meeting gives you the impossible task of being on time. Leave time between meetings. Not only will this allow for travel time but it will also give you time to reflect and process the information from the previous meeting and to prepare for the next.

5. Prioritize!!! Don’t say yes to someone when you that you don’t have the time to accomplish what they are asking of you. Force yourself to learn how to say “No, I’m sorry but I don’t have time to do that today but I have time available tomorrow.” Be firm and don’t let them convince you that they only need a few minutes of your time as it is rarely the case.

6. Slow down! People are often late because the forget. They forget because they are functioning at such a hectic pace that their mind is always working under stress. You are only ONE person with a set number of hours in the day. Don’t set yourself a schedule that is physically impossible for you to accomplish.

Those are a few tricks to help you be on time. I believe the most important is attitude. If you remember how insulted you felt when someone made you wait after them when they were late, how disrespected you felt, then chances are you won’t treat others in the same manner.

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image via Flickr