Have you ever worked really hard on overcoming something, achieved your goal, then you have one bad day and all your efforts seem to flush down the drain and you feel like you are back to square one?

I had a situation like that the other day, and I was starting to despair, all that hard effort destroyed in an instant. I was getting ready to throw in the towel but I stopped for a minute and began to reflect. Before Read the rest of this entry »

Just over a month ago I joined the board of my child’s private school. Before I even had a chance to settle in, I was immediately thrown into the chaos of a school that is way behind in fund raising and over two months behind in paying their teachers. So we got down to work and began figuring out how to raise the funds. After three weeks of this we were no further ahead, at that point we took the course of enough thinking “LET’S GET MOVING”. We compiled a list of the wealthy philanthropists in our community and set out to work. Our expectation was to get at least $10,000 from 15-20 donors, are assumption being that they are very wealthy and have millions of dollars, $10,000 to them is like 10 cents to us, furthermore we were asking them to give from their charity money not their personal funds. Well things didn’t go as expected, though the donors were very generous, the donations were more in the range of $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000. Though we did show sincere appreciation, in the back of our minds there was some frustration and indignation at the fact that these philanthropist would not step up to the plate in a massive way to help a school in need, especially when the people involved are part of their community.

After a week of feeling this frustration, I decided that it was time to try and get some perspective. I don’t function when I am in a negative mode and really needed to change my outlook.

So I asked the power question. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether it’s moving up the corporate ladder or taking the lead against your competition in your own business, we all strive to get ahead. Deep down we really want to be the best, we want the world to know how capable we truly are. So what are the strategies to Get Ahead?  Here are 3 Tips that I have found to work well.

Be Enthusiastic:

Without the fire of enthusiasm it is almost impossible to experience any forward movement. Creating positive enthusiastic energy in whatever you take on not only makes the work easier- as the saying goes ‘time fly’s when you are having fun- when you are enthusiastic your energy increases, you become more productive and require less sleep, and most importantly enthusiasm gets you recognized.  When you have enthusiasm for a project, others can’t help but notice you, your peers will want to participate your bosses will want to promote you and your customers will want to be around you. Even if you find your job monotonous, know that by creating an enthusiastic attitude, you will either get noticed and promoted or you will develop a discipline that will help you succeed when you strike out on your own.

Support Others:

If you try to ascend to greatness by stepping on others, you will find that when something better appears for them you will quickly tumble.  Nobody likes a dictator, their lasts  as long as they can maintain an iron rule and the people fear them, once the fear and control is gone their power is lost. The true leader, the loved leader is the one that respects, supports and recognizes others. If you are leading a project and you take all the credit, how do you think your team will act next time? Will they support you, will they be motivated. I think not.
Respect the talents and capabilities of those you work with, support their efforts and personally recognize them, and when your superiors recognize your performance, the most important statement after “Thank You” is “I couldn’t have done it without the support of such a talented team”. This will stand you out as a true leader and you will have many supporters who carry you to success.

Make Less Than You Are Worth, Do More Than You Are Paid For: 

This is probably the hardest concept to grasp, but it is the most powerful.
Never Get Paid More Than You Are Worth!  If you do, two things will happen, you will either become slack in your efforts, and those that start to pay you might wonder why they are overpaying you and either cut you down or cut you out.

The world wants value, no one wants to overpay for anything, just ask someone who found out his friend got the same thing last week for 50% off. But when you have something that is undervalued a path is beaten to your door.

When you always go above and beyond the  call of duty, you will get recognized and you will get rewarded.  When your superiors see that you are dedicated to their success even though you are not getting paid for the tasks you do, when the time comes for promotion you will be at the front of their minds.  When you do that little extra for your customers, they will bring you more business personally and through referrals. Whenever you feel you are getting paid above your value it means its time to raise the bar.

One caution is that you should not take this to mean that you should become a workaholic, there are many ways to show increased value without working more.
An example might help.
When I go to the Second Cup by my house, the staff are always pleasant and courteous  This is already above the norm, where you often find such employees justifiably unmotivated and unhappy.  What makes them exemplary is that when I come in they always give me an extra level of attention, a warmer smile, remembering my order, in fact on one occasion while I was talking to a friend, one of the staff (Lisa) came out to the seating area and took my mug to get me my drink so I would not have to bother getting in line.  Not to forget Ryan who always makes sure everything is perfect. Yeah these kids are just baristas right now. Do you think they will move on to greater things with their super attitudes?  You Bet.

The Equation:

Do More Than You Are Paid For + Be Enthusiastic + Support Others = Get Ahead

I was reading a short article called “The Three Most Often Asked Questions by Employees Who Have Been Fired”, in it the writer talks about these three questions.

1. Can the employer dismiss me if I was an effective hard working employee?

2. Do I have any legal rights to get my old job back again.

3. If I resigned or quit my job, can I still get severance pay from my employer?

I find it interesting the questions that people ask. If you are Read the rest of this entry »