Career Tips for Women # 17

Drop the Bag!

This is a tip I picked up from reading ‘The Female Advantage‘ by Sally Helgesen.

If you are going to a work related social or networking event do not lug a huge bag around with you. It’ll get on your nerves as you try to juggle drinks, nibbles and handshakes and doesn’t contribute to an overall picture of being in control.

Instead, leave it in a safe place and glide serenely through the event unencumbered, looking as if you have no need of massive hand baggage: you’re confident enough not to need props and baggage.

Could you survive an event without your handbag?

What’s Your Perfect Working Day?

One of the reasons I wrote ‘When Work isn’t Working’ was the number of coaching clients who came to me dissatisfied with their work. People were unhappy with the job they had, for all sorts of reasons, but just didn’t know what to do instead.

And so I wrote a creative visualisation especially for them, which is in the book, and is now available for you to listen to!

Free Download

Simply reading a visualisation doesn’t work as well as hearing it. Which is why I have recorded it and it is on the site, entirely free of charge for you! If you have the book already, you will find it enhances all the exercises you have already done. And if you don’t have the book, don’t worry – it works well on its own too!

Just simply click on the link to the right of your screen called ‘Your Perfect Day’. You don’t need to enter any details. You can either listen to it directly from your computer, or, (recommended) down load it to a player and take it somewhere calm and relaxing for you, where you won’t be interrupted.

I hope you enjoy listening to it and that it takes you closer to achieving your ideal job! Please do let me know what you think!

Take Time to Unwind

Do you sometimes find it hard to relax and unwind? If so, give this is a try:

Think of three words that mean relaxation to you. They might not mean relaxing to anyone else, just to you.

For example, I might say ‘gardening’ as I can find that extremely relaxing. However, I can say with 100% certainty that word would have the opposite of the desired effect on my partner – he’d break out in a cold sweat at he thought of the torrent of requests coming from me to shift earth etc! ‘Golf’ would probably do it for him!

So choose three words that conjure up calmness, relaxation and tranquility for you. They might be colours, or even words you find particularly soothing because you like the sound.

Now, just be aware of you breathing for a moment. Simply notice how you are breathing. Breathe out fully and then take a breath in more deeply than normal. Let this breath out slowly, repeating  one of the words in your head. Breath normally for a minute and then repeat with the remaining two words.

You can take a few minutes to do this at your desk any time you feel the stresses coming on, and it could be a really good way of ending your working day, helping you to leave work behind you!

What helps you relax and unwind?

Your Secret Partner?

A quick brain teaser!

If circumstances forced you to go into partnership with one of your professional rivals, who would you choose….and why?

I’d love to hear back from you, but maybe it’s best to use alternative names….we don’t want to start a run on the pound!

Are You Working Too Much?

A recent study, reported in the European Heart Journal (May 2010), has followed the health of more than 10,000 civil servants since 1985.

And they conclude that working too much is bad for your heart (as well as a whole lot of other things I might add!)

Their research shows a 60% increase in heart related illness such as non fatal heart attacks and angina in those who work three hours or more longer than a normal 7 hour day. One or two hours overtime made no difference.

They cite several possible reasons why this might be so. It could be that people who regularly work longer hours are type As, classified as aggressive, competitive, and very time conscious; prime candidates for heart disease. Another factor could be psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, lack of sleep, or not relaxing enough before sleep. They may also be the type to carry on regardless, even though they feel unwell.

The study was done exclusively on white collar workers in the public sector so may not hold true for everyone.

But the message is clear. Don’t let work run your life, rather let it be part of your life in your control. And if you find work is making you feel stressed and anxious on a regular basis , do something about it! Talk to someone at work, consider a different job, change your attitude towards to work, take back control. Don’t let your career run you, It’s YOUR career, take charge!

What Price Your Value?

Our values are of huge importance to us. If we able to live life in a way that respects our values we’re well on the way to finding the secret of happiness!

Values are not our morals; they are not about being right or wrong (although living in an ethical way might be a value we hold).

When we are honouring our values we feel ‘right’ inside. Similarly when we are ignoring, (or are not able to live by) our values we feel all ‘wrong’. The technical term is dissonance. If we’re not making choices in life based on our true values we’ll suffer from dissonance. It may reveal itself as frustation, or anger, or indifference. We may try to pretend to ourselves that all is well but inside we know. All is not well, whether it’s at work, or in our private life. We know something is not right, even if we can’t always put our finger on what is wrong.

I have included an exercise in my book on understanding your values because articulating our values can sometimes be difficult. This post may also help. What values have to be met for you to have a happy and fulfilling life? Does your current job or lifestyle honour them?