Archive for Attitude
GM Goes Bankrupt
Posted by: | CommentsNo matter what you think of GM, this is a sad time for employees of GM and related businesses (dealerships, suppliers) as many will lose their jobs.
I’ve been saying for years that there is no job security, and this only reconfirms that fact. I was laid off after 1 year on my first job out of school which looking back was a blessing in disguise. I ended up taking control, started contracting and made way more money than I would have as an employee. I’ve become more entrepreneurial starting online businesses, and now working entirely from home.
If you’re still lucky enough to have a job, take this opportunity to take control of your career. Start supplementing your income with an online business, reconnect with your network, take some courses, do some interviews for new jobs, pay off debts and so on. Many wait way too long to do this and are caught off guard.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been preaching about the benefits of working from home – happier employees, more productivity, less commuting stress, cheaper leasing costs, better for the environment – just to name a few.
Looks like I’m getting some agreement on flexible work arrangments.
Recession Talk: Who’s In Charge of Your Career?
Posted by: | CommentsWith all the company layoffs going on lately, you’re probably either really worried about being laid off, or have already been so. Either way if you think about it you don’t really have control of the situation.
Many career experts and advisers talk about how to do well in interviews, who’s hiring, what degrees you should get, what careers are hot, what industries are growing, etc. There’s some good information there, but it comes with an implicit belief which is never mentioned: the employer is in charge. As we grow up we are told to do well in school so that we can get a good job, get a college education so that we can be marketable, and so on. After years of layoffs, downsizing, rightsizing and restructuring the idea that employers will provide you with a lifetime of secure, well-paid employment are long over. So now I want you to take charge of your career. The biggest stumbling block to making more money is your thoughts about money and your perceived self-worth. Of course, making money takes effort and lots of action but I find that before this can take place, you need to change your way of thinking.
This might be a good time to take back control of your career. One way is to consider consulting. The hourly rates are much higher, you pay less taxes, have all sorts of deductions and control your work schedule. Take a few months off in between contracts if you want. I save lots of money during my contracts so I can take months off whenever I want. I even went back to college for jazz guitar at age 36.
Even as an employee, you can change your mindset. Keep learning. Take some night courses. Do lots of networking and enhance your profile online by writing a blog, articles, and so on. Establish yourself as an expert and have a network you can use to change jobs whenever you want.
Why You Resent Successful People
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever thought about what makes you unique? What makes you ‘you’ and not someone else? It is your unique set of experiences over your lifetime and how you interpret and react to them. If you think ‘I am smart, funny, caring’ for example, you have evidence from your past that you’ve done well in school, perhaps read lots of books, had people laugh at your jokes, volunteered for charity and so on. Or ‘I’m an engineer’. You identify part of yourself with your job, your degrees, etc. This creates your sense of self, or ‘who you are’, otherwise known as your ego.
Each day you experience things that either enhance your sense of self or diminish it. If someone tells you that you did a great job your ego expands. If someone cuts you off in traffic your ego is diminished – after all, they didn’t respect ‘you’. Have you ever been slighted in some fashion and never did anything about it? Never vented to someone explaining how you were wronged and how the other person was an idiot? It is near impossible for most of us to leave our ego in a diminished (bruised) state. So this brings us to the topic of successful people.
‘Successful’ people can makes us feel diminished. They have more money, a bigger business, more homes, more cars, more happiness, more attention, more attractiveness. If they have more then we must have less. This creates an imbalance in our minds. Whenever we are diminished we need to get back on top again. The ego does not like feeling diminished. This is done by criticizing and judging those successful people, perhaps by saying ‘They are greedy, they didn’t earn the money, they had it easy, they’re not really happy’. This puts us back in a superior position temporarily, until we meet or hear about the next successful person.
This is a harmful habit because it will affect your ability or interest in being more successful because you are associating negative attributes to success, at least subconsciously. By being happy for people’s success and being grateful for what you already have you will attract more success into your own life.
When Things Don’t Work Out The Way You Expect
Posted by: | CommentsSince I finished my last contract in November (working from home) I haven’t been working on any IT contract. I’ve always enjoyed having time off in between contracts but with the recent decline in my investment portfolio and home value (on paper) I’ve been getting a little stressed. I also had to pay my corporate taxes for the year which was very painful. So I’m feeling much poorer these days. And the wife starts to get on my case to do something. While I’ve been trying to make money online that process isn’t working too well so far.
The one contract I’ve been hoping to get is the one where I can work from home. I’ve already been prequalified via their Request for Qualifications process, but with government budgest decreasing I’m not sure when/if that will happen. So I decided to teach guitar for a while and emailed a couple guitar stores. Turns out one store just lost a full time teacher so I went down for a chat yesterday and got the job. I’ll be teaching about 60 students for starters starting next tuesday.
While the money is much less than I’m used to ($24/hr to start), I’m looking forward to getting into the music scene a bit more. I figure I’ll be able to chat with other musicians, check out guitar gear at the store and find out more about the local scene. I’m hoping to encourage some of the students to join my online coaching program.
The dream is to have an online business, work at home, remove the dependence on hourly pay but until that develops we have to keep doing the normal things everyone does.