How do you use yours?

MotivateMe!
Providing Strategies to Overcome the Procrastination Habit with a Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine

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In This Issue: 23rd July 2010
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* Today's daily dose: How do you use yours?
* Dear Ed ...
* Motivate Me to find work: Personal Presentation
* Let's Connect:
* Share this e-zine:

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Today's daily dose: How do you use yours?
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How you allocate your spare time is a good indication of whether or not you will achieve your goals – OR NOT.

You may argue that working a full time job, taking care of the home, garden, kids and your partner leaves you with little time to do anything else, so why can’t you chill out and relax with friends and a movie in your "spare time". Well I am not saying you can’t, but if you have trouble achieving your goals, then all I am going to do is challenge that thinking just a little.

One of the areas we need to look at are New Year’s Resolutions. That is the time most of us think about when it comes to goal setting. That time when we decide that we hate everything and we are going to change every single thing we do. We are going to stop spending money, give up smoking, exercise more,  get a better job, travel more, write that book, set up our own business. The reason why most (if not all) New Year’s Resolutions fail is because:

a)      We want to change too much too quickly, it can be overwhelming to change every aspect of your life, overwhelming and almost impossible to maintain if....

b)      They are negative. Stopping this and giving up that always means we are coming from a negative view point – it’s hard to get inspired from a negative view point over a long period of time, and to make lasting change usually takes time. Sorry. If you can set "positive" goals then you are more likely to achieve them by the way.

c)       We are usually out of our normal routines when we make those decisions. It’s easy to exercise every day and find time to cook healthy meals when we are not bogged down with trying to make a living (ie going to work, take the kids to school etc). ie., when we are "on holiday".

Which is why when it comes to goal setting, we need to look at our "normal" daily / weekly routines to see where we can make some small but subtle changes that says, over the course of a few weeks I can do this. This is the time that I have – AFTER I’ve done everything that I currently have to do. Then you can see if your goal timeline is correct of not. By slotting things into your current time line also means you can begin to see where you can make other small but subtle changes to your life so you can achieve your goals a little quicker.

To get the most out of today’s edition of the Daily Dose there is something I need you to do. I need you to be honest with yourself – what are you willing to stop doing in your current timeline / schedule so you can move your goals forward - faster? Can you give up half an hour of watching the television, or the beer after work with your mates? Can you get up half an hour earlier? Everything we do is a choice, and everything you do is up to you.

Put it like this – only you can decide if where you are now is where you are happy to stay - which is exactly where you will be if you can't see any way of changing your schedule or timeline. But if you would like to get a little more out of your life, then it is time to look at your schedule, time line and your current habits and see where you can make some changes.

With many thoughts
Elle

P.S.: If you've enjoyed this newsletter and have found it to be valuable, would do me the favour and forward it to your friends, family and associates, it would be very much appreciated. And if they would like to subscribe, they just need to visit http://www.motivateme.info for easy and convenient sign-up.

P.P.S. Don't stop reading there. Today marks a brand new day and a brand new segment.... read on for more information.

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Dear Ed:
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A slight change of direction:

Over the course of a couple of weeks of the Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine, we will focus our attention on one particular area of motivation. That may be how to motivate ourselves to find a new job; motivate me to exercise;  motivate me at work, motivate employees, motivate children and teens, motivate me to lose weight etc etc. This does not replace the Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine, but  expands on the Motivational Tips I have been sharing with you.

But where do we start – and why wait until nearly the end of a month before launching the new segment? Well why not now? Why should I make you wait for something that may benefit you today? I am a great believer in taking action – and not procrastinating over the taking of that action. So today is the day, but to make it easier for me to remember to change topics – this subject will be running until the end of August. However there is another reason – the topic is MASSIVE, and one that will impact on all of us at some point in our lives. And that is - Motivate Me to find work / change jobs.

I have worked in the employment industry for over 10 years, and this information is taken from a number of programs I have run to help people gain confidence and get the jobs they want. People have paid a lot of money for this information and because you are you.... well you get a lot of it for free. Why not all of it? Well some if it is in a book I wrote for the organisation I worked for, some of it was part of the individual programs I ran, and we all know there is no way you can recreate the personal interaction of face-to-face teaching. But you will get a lot of very good information over the next few weeks on “motivate me to find a job”.

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Motivate Me to find work: Personal Presentation
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I was asked to lead a panel of experts on “the employers perspective”  when it comes to selecting candidates to interview, and the answers we expected to receive as part of those interviews. We had about 50 RSVP for the event, which was free to anyone who wanted to take advantage of the knowledge we were about to share. Of those 50, approximately 30 turned up, which says a lot about the motivation of some people to find work.  Of those who did attend, and this was telling – only 4 people (not counting myself and my colleagues) would I have considered to have passed the first “test” of taking the time to present themselves in a manner that said – I am taking this seriously.

Bear in mind that myself and my colleagues represented 4 very large employers in the state, we all have the power to hire – and only 4 of the 30 attendees took the time to dress to impress. What was also interesting though, no-one had taken the time to bring an up to date CV to hand to myself or my colleagues either which seems a little silly.

I know I have rather skipped ahead – you would think that starting a program on Motivate Me to find work I would start with writing CV’s and job applications wouldn’t you. But there are some things that need to be stated with regards to presentation – BEFORE you get to the interview stage.

Handing in your application:

Say you were going to hand deliver your application because you wanted to find out where the organisation was based, what the people looked like and whether you liked the building. Do you go in whatever you are currently wearing, regardless of what it is, or do you take the time to make a bit of an effort – after all you never know who you are going to meet.

Hint – if you are taking the trouble of hand delivering your application, then make sure you are dressed the part. Never assume the person on the reception desk is the receptionist as some people may be covering for the role, and don’t ever think the receptionist is only JUST a receptionist. I know of several organisations who specifically ask the person on reception about the candidates who were sitting waiting for their appointment. And of course there are the people you will meet on the way into the building, or standing in reception at the time you walk in. How embarrassing would it be for you to be called in for an interview only to discover the person you were rude to was actually the person doing the hiring, and had looked down at your torn jeans and daggy jumper. Would you do well in the interview? Probably not – given their “memory” of you will always be tainted by that first meeting.

So – dress to impress.

Go for classic:

If you are planning on working in the corporate world – go for the classic look. Ladies – knee length skirts, jackets and a clean, pressed blouse are always a good choice. Even better if it’s a suit, or a dress with a jacket over the top. Wear stockings and a nice pair of shoes that you can walk in....or put another way – don’t wear heels if you only wear them to interviews – believe me they take practice to walk in and look confident enough to do so. Gents, always go for the suit, shirt and tie. Yes it may sound boring, but it’s expected, and make sure your shoes are clean and polished.

A simple question - What do you look like?

Make sure you haven’t missed bits when you were shaving, ladies – nail polish should not be chipped, hair brushed and if you dye your hair, make sure the roots don’t need touching up. It may sound petty – but remember this one thing – it’s a game, and if you want to win, then you do need to play it effectively.

So what do you look like?

Put on your outfit of choice and get ready as if you were going to attend the interview. Now, go and stand in front of the mirror and assess yourself. Ask yourself the tell all question – would you hire the person standing in front of you?

Until next time.

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