Blog - Career Tips To Go

5 Tips to turn your dreams into reality

By Karen Adamedes on January 30, 2015 / Manage Your Career / Leave a comment

I wouldn’t describe myself as a gambler but I reckon it’s a good bet that if you’re reading this blog article you have at least one goal for your career? A dream you would like to achieve?

There are all sorts of career goals that cover many different aspects of work. Forbes.com’s post “11 popular Career-Related New Year’s Resolutions” lists goals that range from:

what job people do – wanting to get a raise or promotion or find a new job, to
how they do it – being more organized, improving relationships with the boss or co-workers and enhancing communications skills, to
how work impacts on our whole lives – reducing stress and improving work life balance.

You may even have a number of these in your plan for 2015!

Given that research by a British psychologist Richard Wiseman suggests that 88% of New Year Resolutions are doomed to failure – as only 12% are achieved at the end of a year.

That’s pretty disappointing when you consider that any resolution is usually about improving your life. Career-specific goals impact what you do day-in and day-out, how much money you earn, the people you work with and many other aspects of our lives (not that big a deal – just a lot of your life!).

One place to start is by looking at the goals you have set for yourself.

Here’s 5 tips to help you achieve your goals:

1. Have goals that are what you really, really want.

Think about the goals you have set and be sure that they will be what you really want if you are successful. You can only get by for so long on will power and at some point working towards them is going to feel like hard work or a distraction from other things that you want to do.

Ask yourself if what you want will be worth the effort? And if when you get to your goals will you be doing something or working somewhere or in a way that you actually like?

In his book, “The Strongest Life” author Marcus Buckingham says that talking with other people who are already doing what you are working towards is one of the best ways of understanding whether you will be happy when you are doing it. Go out and talk to people. Ask questions. Google it. Find out as much as you can.

When you know that your goals are what you really, really want, (not what you think you want or that someone else wants for you) it will make it so much easier to go from the resolution made over a glass of bubbles to an action plan and the hard yards of implementation.

2. Be specific about what you want to achieve

Once you start developing a plan you will need to know exactly what achieving your goal will look like.

A vague “get a new job” goal is a lot harder to plan than knowing that you want a specific type of role, in the type of company you want to work for, at a certain pay level and where you want the role to be located.

3. Prioritize

Multi-tasking doesn’t really work when you’re trying to eat and type (as a keyboard filled with lettuce has reminded me on many occasions) and it’s not that much different trying to achieve multiple goals at the same time.

If you have too many goals it’s unlikely you will have the capacity to focus on them all.

Work out what is most important to achieve and focus on one, maybe two goals that will help you get there.

One goal, achieved, is better than a long list of fabulous ideas that never get off the ground.

Write your goals down to bring them to life

4. Write them down!

Writing down your goals makes them real…not just a fleeting thought.

When you see one written down it ‘exists’ and helps you validate if this is what you really want.

And it becomes the start of your plan to make it into a reality.

5. Develop an action plan.

A plan of specific, actionable steps is the difference between a whimsy (no matter how much you want it) and a tangible, achievable goal.

If you know what you are going to do and when you are going to do it – you will be able to keep track of your progress and have an anchor to come back to when you are busy with other things. You won’t have to start from the beginning wondering where you were up to last time you were working on the activity.

Break down larger or ambitious goals into smaller steps so that they are more manageable.

Assign due dates to your steps and put them in your calendar, smart phone or any of your devices that is going to be a nuisance and remind you that they are due.

These small steps can help you stay on track and actually turn your dreams into reality.

The Career Tip To Go: [Tweet “Focus on your goal and turn it into a plan”]

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How to get what you want at work (or at least have a good chance)

By Karen Adamedes on January 27, 2015 / Negotiations / Leave a comment

by Karen Adamedes

Business people - team meeting in an office with laptop

Know what you want and ask for it!

Ever miss out on a promotion or a role? Not have enough time to get your work done? Have too much to do and not enough help?

These and many other scenarios can make work harder than it needs to be, cause stress, anxiety and sometimes just make the whole work thing seem, unfair.

“How do other people get the resources/time/budget they need?” you may have asked yourself ?

There is a very good chance that the way to get what you need is to ask for it.

Pure and simple!

Only not quite as simple as it sounds because there are a number of steps to get to this point.

1. The first thing is to actually know what you want or need.

This can be anything from being absolutely clear about the next job you want, to how much extra time, money or help you need to complete your work or project. Managers and colleagues are busy too – and just may not have the time to notice that you’re ready for your next promotion or that your workload is unreasonable.

Assume that you are going to need to be proactive in the situation and figure out exactly what it is that you need.

If your workload is too big – consider whether you need someone to help or more time to complete the work? If your problem is related to a tight deadline…can this be moved without jeopardizing the business? If it can – then you probably could ask for more time. If it can’t – you may need to ask for someone to help you.

Know what you want, how much of it you want and when you need it. Knowing exactly what you are asking for will make asking for it easier. Or at least clearer!

2. Explore the options available for getting what you need

Once you know what you need, think through how you can provide the solution for your manager. Anything that makes it as easy as possible for them to provide you with what you need is more likely to be successful than asking for something that creates a problem for them.

If you’re asking for help – can you identify someone in the team or your business who might be available? If you need more budget – check that the money is available or that money could be saved on something else.

3. Let go of your fear of asking

A well thought out request will not hinder your career credibility. Or show your manager that you can’t do your job.

More likely the opposite.

It will show that you have a good understanding of the business and demonstrate that you have thought through the situation from a business perspective.

It’s usually just as important to your manager that your work gets done, on time and of good quality, as it is to you. If they can help you they usually will.

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need/want or would like.

4. Pick your moment

When you ask can be as important as what you ask for. If your manager has just got out of back to back meetings and hasn’t had a bathroom break or a coffee for 4 hours – it’s probably not a good time. If they’ve just got off the phone with a cranky customer or had a dressing down from their manager – it’s probably not a good time.

Make sure your manager has enough time to listen and consider your request and in an environment where they can concentrate. Taking them for a coffee or sitting in a quiet area is preferable to bailing them up as they’re running into their next meeting.

Let them know you have something you want to talk about and ask when is a good time for them. It’s respectful of their time and will get you the hearing you need.

5. ASK!!!

Ultimately you have to ask for what you need. Start the conversation by asking for exactly what you want.

And then go back and fill in the detail of why you need it, the alternatives you have considered and the options for the manager of how they could give this to you.

By asking for exactly what you want up front there will be no ambiguity of what the conversation is about.

And there is nothing like asking for money, time or people to help to get the attention of the person you are asking for. Believe me, the “Boss, I need to need to ask you for another 3 people to work on this project for a month” conversation starter is certainly going to lead to a longer discussion and plenty of questions! And “I want to put my hand up for the promotion that’s been advertised”, will, at the the very least, lead to a conversation about the role and your suitability that you may not have had otherwise.

You may not get all of what you ask for, you may not get the promotion then and there, but the worst case scenario is that you will have at least had a chance to demonstrate your thinking and interest in the business. And that can only be good for your career!

Or, you might actually get exactly what you want!

How good would that be?

The Career Tip To Go: Know what you want (or need) at work and ASK for it!

P.S. Try it for something small and get some practise! You’ll be amazed when it works!

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If you really want a goal – don’t give up!

By Karen Adamedes on January 20, 2015 / Career Planning / Leave a comment

Keep going and focus on your goals

By Karen Adamedes

Imagine how Australian Jarmila Gajdosova must have felt every January for the last 9 years when she turned up to Melbourne and never won a match at the Grand Slam tennis major, the Australian Open?

Despite playing well in other countries and other tournaments, this was one goal Gajdosova, currently 62 in the world rankings, just couldn’t crack. And in 9 years she never progressed past the first round.

Disappointed? Frustrated? Annoyed? (To say the least I would suspect!)

All feelings that many of us have when we try. Our best. And aren’t successful at achieving our goals or realizing our dreams.

As Gajdosova told News.com.au “the more the losses came the more I wanted to win” and that her coach, Chris Johnstone told her to “play the way you have, fight, work hard and put a smile on your face”. She did. And this year, her “10th Anniversary” at the Australian Open, she nailed it and won her first round match in two sets (6-3, 6-4). (Well done Jarmila!)

It must have been tough coming back to play year after year. But she did.

And that’s the way to reach your goals – don’t give up!

There are many examples of success being achieved after multiple attempts (and failures) – Thomas Edison took 1,000 attempts to invent the light bulb, Steven King’s first novel was rejected by publishers 30 times, Jay-Z couldn’t get a record company to sign him up. I could go on.

It’s not just tennis players, inventors, best-selling authors and hip-hop artists that need to keep going in the face of disappointments.

It’s relevant if you miss out on a promotion, role or course you apply for. It’s relevant if you don’t achieve your sales or business targets. It’s relevant if you don’t get to work on a particular project or with a certain team or whatever goal you have set for your career.

It’s relevant to all of us who have a dream, or a goal we want to achieve and run into some disappointments along the way.

There may be a number of things we need to do differently. But the first is don’t give up!

The Career Tip To Go: Keep going and focus on your goals.

My mother was right (let’s keep that between us!) when she used to quote the old proverb to me “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.”

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7 tips to get through work for the rest of 2014

By Karen Adamedes on December 12, 2014 / Random Topics / Leave a comment

So much to do before the end of the year…make it as easy on yourself as you can!

By Karen Adamedes

There’s only a couple of weeks to go in 2014.Two in fact!

If you’re like many people there’s just a little bit going on (massive understatement?) and you’re trying to work out how you’ll manage to fit everything in?

There are all of the end of year work deadlines – “this needs to be done before the end of the year”, “that needs to be finished before Christmas”, “so-and-so needs this done before Christmas”, it’s the end of the financial quarter, there’s preparation for end-of-year performance reviews and the inevitable requests for “can you get this finished before you go on holidays?” Here in Australia there’s an extra urgency as Christmas marks the start of the summer holiday period and the country virtually goes on leave for January. So everyone is running around trying to get work completed before key decision makers and people in the business disappear for 4 weeks and the country comes to a stand-still.

Then there’s the work parties and pre-Christmas networking catch-ups. And this is all just at work! There’s also presents to buy, family gatherings, drinks/dinners/coffees with friends and end of year events to attend.

And if you’re like many people…you might be a little tired and hanging out for the end of the year – looking forward to celebrations, the break from work or the chance to wind down 2014 and get your plans back on track in 2015.

(If you’re feeling full of beans and don’t feel you have too much on your plate this blog post might not be for you ☺)

Many of us are in the same boat and people understand that this time if year can be a stretch. But you don’t want to wear yourself out. And you don’t want to make mistakes at work or let things go that are important – and have any long term or serious implications for your work or your credibility.

Here’s 7 tips to help get through work over the next couple of weeks so that you’re in a good place to start 2015!

1. Prioritize

I always find a list is a good place to start. But a mind map or a conversation with someone genuinely helpful will work just as well.

Work out what is the most important and absolutely has to get done. Prioritize in order, use a rating system, number 1 to 10 – whatever works for you.

If this is a challenge because you have so much you’ve been asked to do – have a chat with your manager and ask them what their priorities are for you to get finished.

2. Plan

Once you know what absolutely has to be done. Plan how you are going to do it. Be realistic and take into consideration how many working days you have available to actually do the work (not many!)

Do a rough timetable of when you will be able to get the work done.

Work out what you think you can do in a day. Then take at least one thing off your list. We always seem to think we can get more done than we actually can (or is that just me?)

3. Delegate or ask (nicely!) for help

If your prioritizing and planning doesn’t get you to a realistic workload. Ask for some help.

It might all need to be done. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be done by you.

Your team, your colleagues, even your manager are all potential people to help you out and lighten the load. You might even find that they are very happy to help and enjoy the chance to get involved in what you’re doing or be pleased that you trust them to do something for you. And if it’s your personal commitments that are overloading the plate – buy the food you need to take to a family catch up rather than feeling you need to create something from scratch, shop online, ask someone to pick up presents for you. Be resourceful!

4. Avoid distractions

Emails, phone calls, text message, dare I say Facebook – these are all distractions and interruptions to getting what is important done.

But they have something else in common – they all have an off button!

Close down your email, turn off your phone (or if that is a step too far at least put it on silent), don’t have multiple browsers with Facebook, Twitter and a news site open. (Again, may be just me?)

Remove the distractions – even if it’s for an hour or two so you can get something done and cross it off your list.

5. Pace Yourself and get enough sleep

Social activities – work and personal really ramp up in December. Don’t miss out on anything that’s important but don’t stretch yourself to the limit and try and fit too much in. Eat well, sleep well and generally being good to yourself will make you feel a whole lot better. And get more done!

6. Reflect

When there is still so much more to do it can be easy to lose sight of how much you’ve done. When you’ve got a few minutes (come on, you know you’ll be in a line waiting to get your coffee or twiddling your fingers whilst the printer reboots) have a quick think back over the highlights of 2014.

What are the things you’ve achieved that stand out for you? What are you proud of? What do you look back on and feel pleased about?

This is not just about slapping yourself on the back – when you can see what you’ve done in the perspective of a longer time period it can really help you put what you have to do in the next couple of weeks in context.

And if you take an extra few minutes to write them down it can give you a jump start on preparing for your new year performance review or some dot points to add to your resume under key achievements. Win- win!

7. Take some time out to enjoy this time of year

There are lots of happy occasions and lovely things going on at this time of year – make sure you build in some time so that you can enjoy these…the work will still be there in 2015!

And above all else – breath.

Deeply.

It helps you live.

You’ll be good to go!

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