How To Enjoy Your Job...
    Or Find A New One!

Office workers are getting fatter!

34% of IT workers have gained more than 10lbs in their current jobs, and 17% have gained twice that.

53% of financial services and 52% of government workers have also put on weight.

Eating out , lack of portion control, sedentary jobs and the need for reward all add to the difficulty of staying slim at work. Here are 5 ways you can eat more healthily at the office.

a. Have nutritious snacks around so that when you make a grab for a snack you reach a healthy one. Some great snacks to have around the office include fresh fruit, nuts, whole wheat biscuits or crackers, low-fat energy bars, and hummus with pita bread.

b. Keep your own set of snacks nearby or in a locked drawer so when the hunger pangs strike you don’t start running to the vending machine! The key is to be prepared so that you don’t give in to impulse eating—something you are likely to do when the work pressure is on and there isn’t any time to think or prepare food.

c. Choose low-fat versions, diet versions, and sugar-less versions of things you consume such as yoghurt, ice cream, soda, milk and various snacks.

d. Screen for trans-fats in popular items such as popcorn and chips. Try to avoid them completely and substitute with healthier options such as cottage cheese, crackers, granola bars, etc.

e. Have a drink of icy cold water both before and after meals. The drink before the meal will mean reduced appetite for food and the drink after the meal will help you to burn more calories while digesting the food.

The word “consultant” is now used in many industries to describe specialised skilled individuals hired by companies to perform a specific job. Consultants are generally paid a premium, either as an employee on a large salary or as a contractor at a lucrative daily rate. If you want to improve your income and change your career prospects, could you consider becoming a consultant?

Here are five critical areas to focus on if you want to earn a 6 figure salary as a consultant.

1) Specialisation.

2) Know the market.

3) Have a great resume and good interview skills. Strip your resume of peripherals and non-relevant experience. Concentrate on expanding the areas of your resume that are about your specialist area. Have recommendations and references available that relate to the specific work you will consult in. Professional networking websites e.g. Linked In are good tools for promoting yourself and finding opportunities through colleagues.

4) Be flexible. Consultants often have to work at different companies, in different cities or even countries in their work. Daily financial benefits are often given for working out of town, but this may not fit with family life or work/life balance. Know what your limits are before signing a contract. Being flexible about the role itself is also important. Job descriptions, particularly for contract work, are often loosely defined. Adaptation to the differing demands of the job are therefore required. Your contract is more likely to get renewed if you are flexible.

5) Be confident. Consultants are confident in their abilities and portray this to their clients. Even if they don’t know the answer, they are confident enough to say that they will find the answer within a short time-frame. They deliver value for money and so are confident in their daily rate/salary level.

Being a consultant has its pros and cons. There is the freedom to move on, autonomy, project based work and financial reward. But there are also stressful deadlines, overwork and too much travel, job uncertainty and not being paid for off days. It is not for everyone, but if you love change and are confident in your abilities, it is a great way to go.

The lunch hour seems to have disappeared in the modern office world. People rush from one meeting to the next and spend every spare minute trawling their in-boxes. Coffee or cigarette breaks are more common than the lunch break which is often spent wolfing down a quick meal at the desk. A study by KFC Corp found that 60% of workers in corporate America consider the lunch hour to be “biggest myth of office life”.

But the demise of the lunch break is having an adverse effect on the office workers of today. Employers should take note of the benefits that a break can provide in terms of productivity and employee happiness.

Here are 6 options for the lunch break that could benefit you and the company.

1. Give your brain a break. Concentrating hard on work tasks all the time makes it difficult for the brain to rest. In a resting state, or doing something different, the brain can often come up with the answers that are sought. If somewhere is available, take a nap. A study with NASA pilots showed that a 26 minute nap improved mental performance by 34%. A 45 minute nap boosted performance for up to 6 hours later.

2. Give your body a break from the computer. Office workers suffer from posture issues, eye strain and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Workplaces may encourage stretching and mini-breaks but these are often forgotten in the rush of trying to get everything done. Get out of the chair and go for a walk. Give your mouse hand a rest, change posture and stretch in the lunch break. The majority of offices are also air conditioned which dries the air and recycles fumes, spores and other people’s germs. Dehydration and inactivity can cause headaches. A walk in the fresh air and drinking more water can help combat these issues.

3. Get some sunlight. Sunlight improves mood and lifts happiness. People spend so much time under fluorescent lighting which has been linked in some studies to health problems and inability to concentrate. In winter, people may arrive and leave in the dark and get no natural light in the office. Make sure you get some sun in the daytime hours by going outside even just to walk around the block.

4. Get some exercise. Exercise has been proven to improve brain function and productivity. It reduces stress and improves blood flow to the brain and the muscles. Aerobic exercise in particular improves executive functions like problem solving, planning and attention which are critical to office jobs.

5. Eat a proper meal slowly. Focus on eating when you take your lunch break rather than multi-tasking on the computer. Take your time and make the most of it and you will feel less hungry in the afternoon. Eating the right food can also modulate mood and enable more effective concentration in the afternoon.

6. Social support reduces stress, improves job satisfaction and retention. Meet up with colleagues and friends to spend your lunch hour catching up and discussing issues. Get it all out of your system in one go instead of going round to people’s desks to have a chat at other times which may disrupt a productive day.

These options will improve productivity in the afternoon, as well as job satisfaction resulting in benefits for the company as well as for individuals. So put a recurring meeting in your diary every day for the lunch break and make a decision to improve your day. If you are a Manager, tell your employees to have a lunch break every day and see how the office improves.

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons Steve Grosbois

At The Top

At the top of the tallest building in the world
Sat the saddest man in the world
And inside the man
Was the loneliest heart in the world
And inside the heart
Was the deepest pit in the world

And at the bottom of the pit
Was the blackest mud in the world
And in the mud lay the lightest, loveliest, tenderist,
Most beautiful, happy angel in the universe

By Michael Leunig
http://www.leunig.com.au/

I read this poem and it made me think of those people who work all their lives to get to the top office, or the biggest salary, or the best title, or the most direct reports. They may end up rich and powerful, but is this success? Is this happiness?

Find your angel at the bottom of the pit, and follow it to your dreams. Start now.
Don’t wait until you are lonely at the top of the world.

The majority of city workers have to commute to their jobs daily, many for up to two hours by car, bus, train or metro. The commute is often used for catching up on lost sleep, listening to music/ radio or reading depressing news. But is there a better way to use your commuting time?

For these tips, you will need a notebook to write in and a MP3 player for audio. If you drive, consider using a voice recorder instead of a notebook to record your thoughts. Use your notebook to write down what is on your mind, and also to use as an ideas base and knowledge archive. It does not have to be a traditional diary on what you do every day. Use a quality notebook like Moleskine (www.moleskine.com ) as you are going to fill it with quality material.

1) On Day 1, rate your life in these categories: health, relationships, work, finances, spirituality, travel/experiences. Give yourself a score out of 10 for each, where 10 means perfect. Which of these areas do you need to improve? Write down all the questions you have in this area. This will guide what you focus on next.

2) Download free audio or podcasts on the topic you have decided to focus on. Try www.podcastalley.com or the iTunes store. There are plenty of free podcasts on all topics. You can also buy audio products online. If you want to save money, consider buying old tapes and a player from eBay.

3) Get three books from the library on the area you want to improve. Read them on your commute, even if you only manage a couple of pages a day. Learn actively by making notes as you read. Record your new ideas.

4) Start a correspondence course on the subject you want to improve. Perhaps you want to change your job? You can study on your commute and manage 10 hours per week of extra learning.

5) Actively read the newspaper, instead of passively absorbing negative news. As you read the paper, search for any articles that you can apply to your life or your business. Don’t forget to record new ideas into your notebook. Start tuning your mind into opportunity and active processing. For example, read about other people’s jobs. Think about how they apply to your own. Or read about a different country and plan an adventure.

6) Start actively dreaming. Write your perfect day in your notebook. Make it tangible by describing what you can see out of your window, the people who are there and what you are doing. If you are unhappy with where you are now, think where you want to be. The dreaming process is a great place to start. From here, you can identify the steps to get to where you want to be.

7) Reread your old notebooks. Pick up on the ideas you have had and not yet implemented and take action on them now. Remember where you were and where you are now. Celebrate how far you’ve come.

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons A Million To One

The average person will change careers three to five times in their lifetime.
Are you ready to change yours?

Here are the 3 stages you need to go through to succeed:

1. Plan and Research: The key here is “Know Thyself”. Understand why you are changing careers and what is important to you this time around. Write these things down so you can reread the reasons later. Are you aiming for more money? Less stress? More responsibility? You need to have some idea of the job/career you are aiming for, and then begin the research process. Look into what the job actually requires and what the criteria are for interview. Find out what the career path is within the organisations you are looking at. Make a written plan for your career change process that includes a timeline of when you would expect to actually be starting your job. Remember to consider the financial impact of changing career. Do you need to save for a few months to pay for the downtime or retraining?
2. Retrain and Work for Free: Once you know what job you want, it is likely you will need to retrain in some way or get some more experience before you are in paid employment in your new role. Retraining may be full or part-time study or even a correspondence course. Working for free is another way to gain the skills and experience needed. It also gives you an insight into what the job really is, as opposed to what you think it might be. This may involve volunteering for an associated charity, asking to shadow people in that role already or an apprenticeship program. If you have decided that you want to start your own business, then work at it in the evenings and weekends. By keeping the day job, you will put less pressure on yourself and working for free gives you more options while you consider your new career path. Remember you have choices at all stages of the process. You can change courses, or decide on a specialty. Keep your eyes open for opportunities that will appear as you gain more experience in your new field.
3. Commitment and Persistence: Changing your career can be hard work, especially if you are still doing your old job in order to pay for the move. But this is your commitment to yourself and your long term happiness. Your commitment to the process means following your plan even when it gets difficult. Persistence is important as you will find ways to give up otherwise. Surely two hours working on your retraining is worth more than two hours of TV? If you managed that several times a week, you will be well on your way. Reread your reasons to change from step 1. Remember why you need to make the change this time. What will happen if you don’t go through with it this time? Will you still be in the same situation in 6 months?

Expand your reality

It is important to break this cycle of thinking and change your perception of what is around you. What you perceive is just a tiny piece of the actual reality. There are unlimited possibilities; you just need to break down the mental barrier that stops you seeing them.

The brain processes a great deal of information from the world around, and in general people are unconscious of most of it. What is perceived consciously is controlled by your personal filters developed over time based on past life experiences and expectations. These filters construct the wall around your own world, and it can be hard to see beyond this.

What are some of the thoughts that control your situation?
Are there ways you could change your thinking to alter how you see the world?

If you are trapped in a certain way of seeing yourself and your situation, your brain filters will only allow that type of information to be processed and you will not see the means to your escape. If you think that this job is the only one you can get, it will be the only one available to you. If you believe you are trapped, you will be.

But there are opportunities, you just need to see them and the way will be opened for you.

“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing,
that we see too late the one that is open.”
Alexander Graham Bell

Excerpt and diagram from Chapter 6 of “How to Enjoy Your Job”