Friday, January 29, 2010

Ten Tips about How to keep your job in a BAD economy!

•Be the Go-to, Indispensible Person Who Has Needed Organization Knowledge
•Make Your Contributions Measurable and Visible to the Right People
•Make Money for the Company: Contribute to Revenue Generation, Sales, Profit
•Ask for More Work and More Challenging Assignments
•Make Sure Your Manager Likes You; Invest Genuine Time, Compliments, Attention
•Be a Low Maintenance Employee: No Complaining, Whining or Monopolizing
•Work Long Hours and Make Sure the Right People Notice
•Keep Your Personal and Professional Skills Growing and Developing
•Team Build With Coworkers: Cooperate to Achieve Goals and Success for All
•Take Your Talents and Skills to a More Recession-proof Company or Job

Great tips from Susan Heathfield from "About.com guide"...I love "lists"...They keep me organized, focused and on track. Look for more valuable lists to come! Feel free to also post your favorite "lists"! Enjoy the weekend!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Wall Street Journal - Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work!

Check out this great article that reiterates the importance of being happy at work!

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB20001424052748704905604575027042440341392-lMyQjAyMTAwMDIwNzEyNDcyWj.html

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Welcome to Powered by Happy BLOG

Hey everyone! As many of you know, my book, Powered by Happy, will be coming out in March 2010. I wanted to create a blog to start the dialogue on topics related to how happiness can boost your performance, increase success and transform your workday! I want to spread the word about the passion I have around this topic and learn from all of you, how happiness has helped change your career and your life!

Let me start by sharing with you an impactful story from my life, that helped change my career AND my happiness!

I was twenty-nine years old and on the fast track to a great career with an international brokerage firm. I had a loving husband, a beautiful three-year-old daughter, and a great job—talk about having it all! I loved my job. It was perfect for me and for my life, or so I thought. I was in charge of office administration, accounting, sales, and computer training and support. Sounds like a lot, but I loved it. It provided a challenge, professional development, and enough diversity that I never got bored. I was able to travel the world and see places that I never dreamed I would see. I worked with executives who were twice my age, three times my seniority level, and earning paychecks worth more than quadruple my dollar value. Again, life was good.
Then one night while traveling in England, I called to wish my three-year-old, Tiffany, a good night, and for the first time since I had her, she realized I was gone, really gone. Up until this point, my travel was her “vacation.” She got to visit her grandmothers and was spoiled beyond belief. But even at three years old, she was getting wise enough to realize that her mom was not there to tuck her in at night. When I spoke with her, she started crying, “Mommy come home! You no here—I need you here!” I was in such shock that I didn’t know how to respond; nothing in my parenting books had taught me what to say or how to react. So I reacted by crying, too. I was devastated. All of a sudden, my perfect job—the job that helped make me happy and fulfilled—was now something that was coming between me and my happiness.
The last three days of my trip seemed to last forever, and I will never forget my trip home. I experienced a life-altering conversation with a complete stranger, a conversation that I live by to this day. I was sitting next to a man who noticed my preoccupation (and depression) and started chatting about being stuck in an airport. Half-listening, I was playing along, and as we bonded, I started to share my story of my distraught three-year-old and how horrible I felt when I heard her cry. Almost abruptly, he stopped me and said, “Listen, you seem like a bright young woman, but at the end of the day, nobody ever says they wished they’d worked more. They say they wished they had spent more time with their family. I hope you remember that as your daughter grows up and someday, very quickly, will be gone away to school and on to her own life.”
Wow. Have I heard this kind of story before? Absolutely. At the exact moment I needed to hear it? Never!Within a month of that conversation, I quit my job. Yes, the job I loved, the one that made me happy every day. However, what “having it all” meant to me had changed, and thank God it did, because my two beautiful girls will tell you that I have been there for them, in sickness and in health, ever since!

Tell me some of changes you have made that ultimately changed your career? your level of happiness? your life?