It is important that we recognise a significant event and ensure that it doesn’t turn into a downward spiral where we free fall and make the situation, our position or even our emotional/mental state worse.

One age old wisdom which is now starting to attract some formal research is the advice to ‘Count thy blessings’.  What does this mean some of you might say? It means to reflect methodically on all the positive elements in our lives and careers and in turn also place into perspective the impact of the speed hump.

Some examples might be:

•    I have an excellent job which is interesting and well paid
•    I live in an safe, caring and vibrant community
•    I have a supportive and loving family
•    I have great friends whom are always there for me
•    I have beautiful children which bring me great joy
•    I have significant opportunities for personal & professional growth

Beyond looking at the broader picture of your current life setting it can also be beneficial to reflect on your day or week.

I am certainly not suggesting that we “sweep our troubles under the rug” as we should address these within a supportive environment of family, friends or even via the formal support of a counsellor, therapist etc.

I am suggesting that we can “catch ourselves” and focus on the many good things that life presents to us every day and throughout our lives and therefore create a positive platform to counter our speed humps.

I hope you aren’t encountering speed humps but regardless take some time to count thy blessings and think upon the good things in life for which we can be thankful. Cheers,

The idea can also apply to us and our careers. It is not uncommon that we wake up and find ourselves not doing the kind of job, achieving the kind of satisfaction and other cases earning the kind of income we want or need or deserve.

As happiness can often be derived from our level of satisfaction with our personal relationships (outside work) and our job satisfaction – it is important that we consider re-tooling to get us back on track and well, be happier !

I happen two know a lot of people that are re-tooling right now to either change career directions or improve current job satisfaction and earnings:

•    2 actors studying psychology to move into this field
•    1 actor studying law to move into Law
•    1 Construction Foreman studying Professional Building to become a Project Manager
•    1 Corporate Professional studying Education to become a Teacher

My father has always said to me, “Nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy, otherwise everyone would have it“ and this rings true for re-tooling.

Re-Tooling requires:
1.    significant personal effort
2.    sacrifice of precious time and money
3.    ongoing commitment to a vision
4.    a realistic understanding of the end-goal

So if you want to move up a rung in the ladder, provide yourself with greater career scope or totally change career directions then take some time out and discuss with your network what re-tooling may look like for you, Cheers

P.S. Feel free to write to me about what re-tooling could mean for you!

Let’s assume you created a plan back in January, if you did then this is a perfect time to dust it off and take a good hard look – what goals did you set? Did you achieve them? How did your perform in business and personal goals? What held you back? What can and will you change?

Take a few hours, be honest with yourself, make this a worthwhile exercise.

Now that you’ve collected all your analysis it’s time to make a new or updated plan – one way is to create a Fast Start Plan

Create a 30/60/90 Day plan which incorporates all the things within your objectives and allows you to get started straight away and build up to a solid first 3 months.

e.g. First 30 Days:
1.    Break up Your Target into Monthly Goals
2.    Analyse Key Clients for potential business
3.    Define Gaps that will stop you reaching your targets
4.    Call all Key Clients for a ‘ July Call ‘

Another might be that you want to be more strategic and collect more information before you step out planning. The important thing is that you document where you are headed and how you are going to get there. Building a plan will give you the Mid Year Kick Start that you need.

As I have said before, in all likelihood this will put you way beyond your peers whom are still drinking moche lattes and talking about ‘how they can’t believe it’s July ‘. Cheers,

Key focus areas for academic distinction:

1. Read Widely on topic given
2. Seek advice from experienced students & academic staff
3. Emulate best of breed format
4. Test ideas with superiors
5. Stick within guidelines
6. Make a good argument
7. Back-up claims

These seven steps are the same for gaining corporate distinction!

Distinction is defined as achieving eminence, high status, superior performance amongst other things.

There are many opportunities within the corporate world to gain distinction, they may include being asked to join a project team seeking to tackle a specific issue, taking on a new business area which needs to be turned around, or simply proving you have what it takes to be a top performer or subject matter expert in your area.

Sometimes when we are asked to volunteer for projects or take on new challenges we only think of the burden of work, rarely do we think of the opportunity to excel and stand out or dare I say – gain distinction !

I challenge you to consider your next opportunity to break the norm and stand out from the crowd and see if you can earn a ” D ” whether it be literal or metaphorical. Cheers,

If you’re not happy leave

When I was in my 20’s my father encouraged me to try different jobs and he always said, “if you’re not happy leave“ and try something new. I did this three times before settling with my current employer.

Take an hour for lunch

My father was always big on stress avoidance and would encourage me to take an hour for lunch so that you could go for a walk or just have some down time. I have always followed this rule to the best of my ability.

Nothing Worthwhile in life is ever easy

My father always encouraged me when I was confronting something hard whether it be studies or work. He would say, “ nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy otherwise everyone would have it “, to me this meant I was striving to differentiate and better myself. I think of this often.

It’s easy to spend a dollar but you try earning one

My father would always use this when talking about money. He was a conservative man but this also meant that my family never wanted for anything and he is now a self-funded retiree and they live a comfortable life. We never went to Disneyland but we always had fantastic family holidays and this is where my passion for surfing and reading was born.

You need to work a large part of your life so don’t think on stopping

If I ever complained about working, which I often did, my father would always tell me that there was no point in complaining as I had to work a large part of my life and therefore day dreaming about quitting was a waste of time – he would also add, “ if you’re not happy then leave “.

Buy the worst house in the best street

My mother would always say when discussing property that you should buy the worst house in the best street – this means that the worst house will always appreciate (grow) in value faster than the best house. It also means to can renovate the add value. I am living in the worst house right now !

Don’t over extend yourself & Live within your means

My mother would always talk about not over extending yourself and living within your means. This was about only living a lifestyle that you could afford to live and not getting into debt especially credit card. My wife and I are never in credit card debt, ever.

Worrying achieves nothing

My mother would tell me than worrying about something never achieved anything. It didn’t make the problem go away, if anything it made you feel worse. Rather you should look to address the problem. When ever I worry I think about this.

Your dreams are the unresolved matters of the day

Lastly, my mother would say that “your dreams are the unresolved matters of the day” and I would often wake thinking just that – now if I have large unresolved matters I will try and talk about them or write them down before going to bed.

I think it is easy for us to ignore the wisdom of our parents but if we think about it we may be surprised how much we have absorbed and how often they influence our lives and possibly we pass these along to others. If your parents provided you with wisdom then write to me in ‘comments’ and let me know what it was, cheers !

I am fairly ruthless with time management but this has only probably occurred since I have become a manager and soaked up ideas from mentors plus put into practice old trusted ways.

Why is this important for your corporate life? Easy, it means you can achieve work life balance, it means you can be successful even within the confines of an eight hour day, it means always being on time, it means efficiency and it means being in control.

Many people I speak to don’t believe time management can make a difference. Most of the time you can quickly tell why – they don’t practice what they have learnt, they aren’t disciplined with their time.

Guess what? My favourite four-letter word comes in to play – PLAN. You see I bet you can probably determine 80% of the tasks you will have to do next week or want to do next week. If true, then you can easily plan ahead by using your diary to pre-plan tasks by blocking chunks of time, I call them “ Meetings with Myself “.

Let’s take it a step further, what if you know 50% of your tasks every week for the next three months! You can block these times every week – you can create a ‘Management System’ (oooh another favourite of mine). This system can be how you operate, it is sacrosanct and nobody can interrupt you!

This is how I work, I have done so for the last eight years and it works like a charm (…and I have crazy busy jobs). Guess What Else? You find yourself with spare time! Thinking time – who would have thought.

Here is the catch – you need to be strict with yourself and with others. You need to say no to meetings (you can do it….). If you don’t follow your system, if you don’t have discipline it won’t work.

Here are some other rules I follow:

1. I have a To Do List with Boxes and ranked A,B,C etc
2. I book 1 hour for lunch every day
3. I don’t answer the phone unless I have time to
4. I don’t check email unless I have time to
5. I don’t respond to instant messaging unless I have time to
6. I give people realistic timeframes to doing work like – “how is by close of business Friday?”

What does this all mean? It means you are in control again, it means your work gets done on time and properly. It means your nights and weekends are free.

Here are some examples of “Meetings with Myself” you might use:

• Prepare your forecast for sales meeting (1 hour)
• Review your sales opportunities and update notes (1 hour)
• Review Performance metrics  (30 mins)
• Online Education (1 hour)
• Call 5 Clients (3 hours)
• Follow-Up Top 5 sales opportunities (2 hours)

Hopefully you now have the gist on better time management Better Corporate Life Style. Give it a whirl and let me know if it makes a difference. Cheers,

From my perspective I think that thanking people can be a powerful force for good in your life and in your career.

-    it let’s people know that you are respectful
-    it acknowledges to work and effort that people have done
-    it encourages people that their work is appreciated
-    it creates a good environment
-    it encourages improved work or service effort
-    it helps to create your brand in the workplace
-    it creates a greater future potential for teaming

There are probably other benefits that I can’t think of right now.

I have managed teams before where at the end of each month or quarter I have asked them to spend 30mins calling and email people to thank them for their efforts over the prior period – maybe my team thought I was mad but they never complained.

I will sometimes thank people even if their work wasn’t perfect but I know they had made a huge effort.

There is some quote or saying that it’s easier to smile than frown and I believe it is more powerful to be thankful than to be arrogant, rude or inconsiderate.

Not sure what you think about thanking. Feel free to write to me and let me know. Cheers,

Sometimes in our corporate life we find ourselves in a bad place professionally. Maybe we have lost our mojo, maybe we have troubles at home or with our family. There are a myriad of reasons that can lead to this place.

The fact is all of a sudden our boss isn’t happy, they let’s us know it and they let us know what they expect or else. The “else” could be subtle or specific like “do this or you are fired !”

I have been privy to a number of people going through this situation over the years. I think I have been fairly consistent with my message. If you find yourself on the edge then maybe these steps can help:

a)    Recognise where you are at – this isn’t about justice, this is about your boss isn’t comfortable with your performance and has decided to act. This takes a lot of energy from your boss so this should ring like a church bell in your head.

b)   Decide your course – you may have heard the phrase “ fight or flight “, we all have it in us. If we can acknowledge we have ‘screwed up’ then hopefully we can decide to fight for our job and creditability. If you decide to “fight” for your job, good for you. If you decide to “fly” – get moving, leave why people still think well of you.

c)    Fighting for your job and getting a second chance – much like starting a new job I think you need to:

i)    get a clear understanding what is expected from your boss
ii)    create a 15/30/45 day plan that you can execute to and show it to your boss
iii)    Ask to meet with your boss weekly and discuss progress, 30 minutes is fine.
iv)    Work hard and smart, don’t complain, exceed the goals in your plan
v)    Emerge re-born (hopefully!)

I was given a subtle signal in 2003 and I did the above and have never looked back. I realised I was a self obsessed idiot at the time and the signal from my boss allowed me to make a 180 degree turn.

I hope you are not at the edge but if you are, I hope I have helped.

I stopped and thought about myself – yeah, I feel pretty stressed. The workload at present is ‘full on’, I am not seeing the progress I would like, I am completing my Masters and I have a busy family life with a very active 15 month old.

I have often proudly spoken about my ability to recognise stress within myself and then doing something about it – but really it usually takes me a while to realise. As I get more demanding roles the stress levels only increase – this means I need a plan nay a regime by which to live to address stress.

1.    Recognise Stress within yourself – I had a situation 18 months ago where I was getting mild chest pains, I realised I was super stressed and I went to the Doctor that afternoon. She advised my blood pressure was high and I needed to pull back.

2.    Acknowledge you are stressed and create a plan – most issues can be tackled in small pieces, you know “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”, so break-down on paper what is stressing you and start to make a plan.

3.    Let go of things you can’t control – sometimes we allow ourselves to get absorbed by things we can’t control including other peoples problems – it is their problem, not yours.

4.    Talk to friends and family about your stress – talking about it can be helpful and they can offer advice and support.

5.    Examine your diet – stimulants like coffee, tea, soft drinks, sugar can all add to your stress so get off them for a few weeks or months. There are great herbal teas or just water. Make sure you are eating a good diet (did I mention vegetables?) – Fast Food will make you worse due to salt, sugar and fat.

6.    Get Moving – exercise, especially cardio like walking, will reduce your stress levels. Have you ever seen a fat CEO or Government Leader? Hiking or Bush Walking on the weekend is amazing for stress reduction.

Stress is a normal part of life. It is up to us to recognise it and respond to it. It is possible to change your lifestyle so that you can create a lower stress environment. Please see a Doctor immediately if you feel unwell or have any pains from stress. Take care and good luck with the Brussels Sprouts!

I was pulled aside by a Personal Assistant, Karen, who sits near one of my teams in the office. She said to me, “Richard, how do I get a new job so I can earn more money? “ There was a vacant meeting room nearby so I said let’s pop in hear and chat.

We went through the normal conversation and if you read my blog you know what I am referring to:

1.    what are you skills
2.    what roles do you want to target
3.    do you have a plan
4.    who are networked with
5.    do you have a current CV

So all of these things were a revelation and she felt pumped. I know Karen is a mother to young kids so I said, “What does your husband think? “ To which she replied, “He doesn’t care what I do”. I decided to dig a little deeper.

I said, “You know a new role in the areas you are describing, HR or Marketing, are going to mean longer hours for only x amount of more money”.

She went onto explain her extended family and how demanding they were on her time and their expectations. To me Karen seemed stuck so I said to her, “it seems to me you may not need a new job as this one really works for you but instead you need more time to focus on you”.

I asked Karen if she had any passions that she hadn’t pursued in a long-time. She said ‘Art‘ – I asked her had she considered doing an evening or weekend course, just for her, that would give her some space and allow her to awaken her passion – she loved the idea.

Sometimes we think we want something to change. Often we think it is our job. This isn’t always the answer – often it maybe environmental or creating some ‘me time’ or ‘me focus’ that we shouldn’t feel guilty about.

If this resonates with you – write to me and let me know. Hopefully you can create some more life for you.