Your mood is a major determinant of success in anything you do. You should never enter an interview or any other high-stakes situation in a negative frame of mind. You can needlessly lose many opportunities simply because you haven’t been “up”. For example, job seekers find considerably greater success when interviewing on Fridays, perhaps due to the fact that people tend to be in a better mood towards the end of the week. When people are relaxed, they are in a better “buying mood”.
In this article, Harrison provides a very interesting theory regarding the most suitable time to apply for a job. Searching for a job and applying for the same should be intensely calculated activities in a person’s career. You should seriously and critically analyze what the factors are that would help in you getting hired. As Harrison states, the holiday season is one of the best times to apply for a job and get interviewed. There is less competition, employers are in a happier disposition, there is less pressure of work on their shoulders, the temperament is more tilted towards giving than taking, and the basic mood prevailing is one of sharing, kindness and empathy. Harrison believes that this should be seen as the best opportunity to get hired and urges you towards it.
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It is important to have a career that makes you happy, rather than pursuing a career simply because you or others think that you should. Life too short not to be doing the things that you really want to do with your life. If you do not yet know the kind of work that makes you genuinely happy, you need to go and find it.
In this article Harrison explains why it is important to stay away from the social side of the office. If you are spending time with negative people inside the company, the implication is you may share their opinions as well. This can create huge problems for you. You need to realize guilt by association can hurt you. You are at work to make a living. You can choose to get involved in the social side of the office and watch your career stall. None of this is to say you can’t be friendly with your co-workers. However, you should not participate in the social network of the office too much. The social side of the office can be fun but more often than not, it can cause you far more problems than it is worth.
In this article, Harrison explains what actually happens with attorneys during a recession. On studying this aspect, Harrison discovers that jobs involving transactional work slow down in comparison to litigation related jobs. Similarly, there is a dramatic fall in corporate, securities, and real estate related jobs. Even patent work enters law firms relatively slower than when the economy is bustling.
You greatly increase your chances of being hired by maintaining constant contact with employers for whom you would like to work. Services like LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media are invaluable tools to connect with potential employers. Use these tools to stay in contact with every employer with whom you have interviewed (successfully or unsuccessfully), and everyone you know; maintaining such a high level of contact will make you much more likely to be hired when the time comes.
L. W. Rogers's Self-Development and the Way to Power is a marvelously inspiring book that speaks of happiness as a product of wisdom. Rogers states that a person is either a slave of nature or a master of its law. He believes that suffering is unnatural and an imposed negativity. Everyone is supposed to be happy and hence we must discover our innermost powers and develop them in order to live a healthier, wealthier, and happier life. This book contains a strong message and can benefit you immensely. It is my pleasure to be sharing it with you.
True leadership comes from standing for the things in which you believe, even if you stand alone and others disagree with you. Taking charge of your life means acting and doing what others are afraid or unwilling to do; this is personal leadership, and will lead you to incredible results. You will reach your fullest potential by being the person you are capable of being, rather than the person that others say you should be.
In this article Harrison explains how you can ensure success in your career by externalizing your opponents. Your job is like a game; if you work hard, play by the rules of the company and are seen as part of the team you will be viewed as a valuable player for the company. The most significant part of any game is the presence of an opponent. Don’t look for an opponent among your co-workers. Never speak negatively of your team members. Instead, concentrate on the external opponents. External opponents bring you and the team closer as you work towards a common goal. In order for you and your company to succeed it is important to have an external opponent. Harrison advises people to consistently work hard and not participate in the politics. This is a sure way to score big in your career.
True self-esteem comes from within, not from the acceptance of others. When your sense of worth comes from within, you free yourself from comparisons with others and will enjoy a greater sense of internal security. You will no longer be bogged down by the experiences of others and can become much more self-reliant.
Your greatest successes will come from some of the smallest actions in terms of meeting people. You will cause a “stacking effect” the more you meet and connect with people; conversely, people cannot connect with you when you are withdrawn and nothing will happen. You must do everything in your power to connect with as many people as possible.
A powerful sense of self will make all the difference in your life. You must understand that your sense of yourself and your capabilities come from inside of you, not from the external forces that have brought you to your current place in life. What you feel internally might be completely different from what the world is telling you, and you must learn to focus on the former rather than the latter.
Adopting a positive attitude will always bring you closer to success, as nobody wants to be associated with a losing side. Everyone wants to associate with and hire winners, and avoids losers. Nothing is more important than maintaining a positive attitude, as many employers hire people based primarily on attitude; with the right attitude, everything else will fall into place. You must look like you are on the winning team, even if times are tough; nobody wants to hire a loser.
Everyone tries to maintain a certain emotional state, and learning to control your own emotions will have a profound impact on your career. While everyone allows their emotional states to be influenced by outside events, there is no advantage in basing your own emotions on things that you cannot control. Allow yourself to discover happiness and fulfillment naturally, rather than making your emotions dependant on external circumstances. Your outlook will have a tremendous impact on your psychological health, as well as that of those around you.
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