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Recent research has revealed that people perform better at work and in life if we practice strategic renewal. If you’re rundown you’re more susceptible to getting sick and miss days from work.
You need to get more sleep during the week, scheduling daytime workouts, eat healthy foods, and enjoy rest and relaxation away from the office with your team members whenever possible.
These simple changes in behavior are guaranteed to improve your attitude about work your performance at work—and maybe even your beach volleyball skills.
Humans aren’t designed to run on high level without having a period of rest and relaxation. You need a time for renewal. It allows you to relax and rejuvenate your mind and body.
That’s why Cydcor’s R&R Cancun 2015 is such an important event. It celebrates your accomplishments and reminds us all that we need to take a moment to stop and smell the frangipani.
Here are some of the specific benefits of rest and relaxation whether you’re on the beach or in your own backyard:
Restores your energy: You need to recharge you batteries in order perform at peak effectiveness throughout the day. Rest and relaxation is part of your work cycle and taking advantage of it whenever possible will improve your productivity.
Repairs your body: Our bodies repair themselves from daily wear and tear when we rest. Rest and relaxation reduces stress and improves overall health. You’ll be able to easily work a full day.
Improves your focus: An active mind gets tired just like an active body. Including time to quiet your thoughts and letting your mind rest is part of the healing process. You’ll improve your ability to concentrate and problem solve at work.
Improves your mood: Relaxation makes you feel happier. When you choose to think about things that make you feel good, you’ll discover that you actually feel more positive about the challenges you face at work. You’ll begin to see obstacles as opportunities.
Increases your creativity: Too much stress and activity often disconnect you from your creative potential. Rest and relaxation will allow you to regenerate as an individual and as a team. Your ability to create and innovate as a team member and as a cohesive group will be improved when you return to work.
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Is your glass half full, or is it half empty?
Before you answer this question, take a moment to think about what you’re being asked. The standard response from a traditional optimist is that the glass is half full.
Pessimists also provide an expected answer and observe that the glass is half empty. But an authentic optimist, one who’s been improving his or her performance at work and in life, will simply say, “I’m thankful that I have a glass.”
You see, the authentic optimist has developed the ability to see the details in the situations and challenges the encounter every day. They have learned to recognize opportunity and respond with originality tempered with a bit of audacity. Optimism has a lot of benefits—one of them is original thinking.
Optimism isn’t a trick. It’s not a gift, either. It’s something you can learn. It’s a skill you must learn if you want to develop your career and build success. At its best, optimism is a way of life. Are you ready to embrace it fully?
You may have been taught that to be an optimistic person you must “hope for the best.” Actually, those are two different things. Hoping for the best leads to passive decision making - you will sit where you are until something good happens. But you may be sitting in the wrong place. When something good happens on the next street over, you’ll miss it entirely because you misunderstood optimism.
Optimism is a state of mind, a decision, and a daily practice. As you begin to cultivate your own personal optimism you’ll begin to see that it’s not a magic bean or a book of spells. Optimism is a point of view. It’s learning how to see that each challenge you face at work, on the road, on the phone, and at home, presents you with an invitation and an opportunity to achieve your goals.
Now, it’s easy to see bad news and difficulty. Even some optimistic people may see that the glass is half empty. But authentic optimistic people have developed their skills to achieve and expect success. They never stop looking once they notice that the glass is half empty. An optimist sees that there are choices to be made and opportunities to be considered.
Even if you’ve been born with a friendly personality, you may find yourself stuck when you’re in a situation that requires you to start a casual conversation. If you’re a naturally quiet person, these social situations might be uncomfortable experiences. When you’re nervous you lose your confidence and find it difficult to focus. Follow these suggestions and learn how to turn small talk into a new skill!
Don’t Just Say Hello!
Saying hello is a standard introduction during a social encounter. It works, but it leaves the conversation with no place to go. Instead, get the conversation rolling with adding open-ended questions.
Small Talks Needs a Big Brain and a Big Attentions Span
Once you’ve asked an open-ended question, pay attention to what the person is saying. At the same time, think of one or two follow up questions based on what the speaker says. Pay attention to their eyes and facial expressions. You can nod your head to show that you’re listening. It’s okay to smile, laugh, or become serious depending on the conversation. When there’s a natural pause in the conversation, make a comment and ask another leading question. If you get nervous, just take deep breaths and try again.
Common Interests Build Common Ground
As you continue your conversation, you’ll discover shared professional interests and concerns, which will help you build a conversational connection. If you’re attending a business conference, you have the topics related to your business in common. This can be a great confidence builder when it comes to improving your casual conversation skills.
Know When It’s Time to Go
After a certain amount of time, you will know that you’ve reached the end of your conversation. At that time, let your contact know that you have other people to speak to. Simply say, “I’ve really enjoyed speaking to you, and I appreciate all the information you shared and getting to know more about your business. Here’s my card. Can I have your business card too?”
If you say that you’re going to follow up or provide some kind of information—do it. That’s how you turn small talk into big success—one conversation at a time.
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The day you return to the office from a business trip will be focused on getting caught up on work that you missed. If possible, don’t schedule any meetings during your re-entry. Here are some other great tips for how to get back into the groove of the workplace.
Stay In Touch While You’re Away
Use social media to stay in touch with your team at work, as well as your family and friends. Check your email and voicemail so messages don’t pile up. Even though you have set up a system to control your workflow while you’re out of the office, things sometimes slip through the net. Let your team members know that you’re working on various problems. Ask them for help with items you can’t complete while you’re away.
Share What You Learned
Take notes, save hard copies of presentations, get links to PDFs, and document events with photos, if possible. Once you’re back at the office, build your notes into a PowerPoint presentation to share with your team members and on social media. Cover these topics:
Sharing what you learned at the conference improves your skills as a mentor and lets your supervisor see your leadership abilities.
LinkedIn and Facebook are powerful business tools that give you an opportunity to share new business insights. They’re powerful publishing platforms that can amplify your industry’s voice.
Building Your Network
Assemble all of the business cards you collected during the conference and get them into your contact database on your first day back in the office. Your records should include where you met this contact and how you connected during the event. Take note of what you discussed or an event you both attended. Paying attention to these details will make contacting him or her easier because you shared a personal experience.
Reach out to conference contacts on social media and ask them to connect with you. Send your contacts a short email and remind them about how you met. If you feel that you established a strong relationship with someone and they suggested that you to call, follow through on their invitation. Use this experience to build your networks and your connections.
Making a good first impression matters. It’s especially important when you’re attending a business conference. Even if you’re not on stage, you’re on display as a representative of your company. You’re also representing your professional self. “What we wear speaks volumes in just a few seconds. Dressing to impress really is worthwhile and could even be the key to success,” says Dr. Ben C. Fletcher in Psychology Today.
Schedule Your Personal Style
Dressing with confidence requires some rules. Create a personal dress code for business events. It’s easy to do! Start with a review of the conference schedule. Will there be a team building experience such as a hike? Is there a formal dinner scheduled? The more you know, the better you can prepare. Here is a description of some common dress codes:
Business Casual
Business Professional
Cocktail or Business Formal
The Foundations of a Professional Wardrobe
We’ve identified several pieces of clothing that work as the foundations of your professional wardrobe. Review your clothes before the event. Try them on so that you’re confident about the fit and know that they’re good as new.
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Integrity means that you have high moral principles and follow professional standards. Simply put—to practice integrity in the workplace you can’t just talk the talk—you have to walk the walk. A lack of integrity can lead to poor decision-making and have a negative influence on your work and your employer.
Integrity Begins With You
Be well groomed at all times. Keep your work area and your car neat and clean. This habit shows that you care about the impressions you make as a representative of your company. Clients and colleagues will see that you respect your employer’s values and are a responsible person. If you make a promise you must keep it. It proves that you’re a dependable person. Only agree to provide services that you can actually deliver. Don’t over promise. If you do something wrong, fix it as soon as possible.
How Do I Show Integrity at Work?
You have to be honest and ethical in all of your actions if you want to practice integrity in the workplace. Understand that you’re a role model for your colleagues, clients, and vendors. Be consistent about how you apply your ethical standards. Rely on facts at all times in your interactions at work. Never make excuses or avoid sharing bad news. Integrity requires that you speak up when you notice a practice or behavior that diverges from the company’s ethical standards.
Practice Company-wide Integrity
Practicing integrity at work provides positive outcomes for your company. However, you need to understand how your company practices integrity. Become familiar with your company’s core values and use them as a guide for developing your workplace integrity. Allow your team members to share their concerns about anything they see as going against your company’s values. Encourage an atmosphere that supports honesty and fairness.
Integrity Welcomes Risk
Every decision you make will involve some elements of risk. You must be willing to take a risk in order to achieve excellence and be competitive. If there are objections to your suggestions, remain positive. Gaining support from team members and stakeholders requires effort. Do the work. Ask for input from all participants and encourage them to share their concerns.
Practice What You Preach
Your behavior at work must offer a good example for your team members, colleagues, customers, and your community. Recognize your own skills and appreciate the contributions of others. Share your experience with your team and help them to develop their own integrity in the workplace.
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The leading provider of outsourced sales teams, Cydcor is dedicated to helping business professionals worldwide reach success.
Choosing the right words is key to creating a successful resume in 2015. But even before a hiring manager sees your resume, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) could reject it. It’s estimated that nearly 75% of applicant resumes don’t make it through this automated scanning process. At Cydcor, we value all resumes that have been written well, and showcase the experience we're looking for.
Hiring managers may not understand your “passion” or you skill as a “problem-solver” if you do not explain how you demonstrated this in a work setting. You need to make sure your resume shows how you increased company profits. Use your resume to tell how your record-breaking effort contributed to your team’s success.
Start With a Summary
Your resume needs to let the hiring manager know that you’re the right person for the job and are worth being contacted for an interview. Get the hiring manager’s attention by identifying your relevant experience in a well-crafted summary at the beginning of your resume.
Numbers Tell the Story
Use numbers to define your professional accomplishments. Numbers add focus and scope to your work history. Answer questions like these with facts and figures:
Use Keywords
Highlight keywords in the job description and compare them to related keywords in your resume. If there is a 70-80% match, then you should apply for this position. Only about 20% of applicants applying for a specific job are actually qualified for the position. Online tools like Jobscan analyze how well your resume matches the job description.
Keep It Relevant
Employers want to hire people with relevant experience. Keep your resume to 1 or 2 pages by cutting any experience that is over ten years old.
Get Creative—Within Reason
Colored fonts will make your resume stand out from others—but don’t get carried away. Consider at two-color system—black and one other color, like blue. Test these colors on various screens and printers if possible. You want to make sure it’s easy to read. But before investing too much in design, study the company’s website and get a feeling for their culture to determine if a creative resume will work in your favor.
Cydcor has previously written about Toxic Employee Traits That Can Slow Progress, but it's also important to mention how to continue career progress. You will never advance simply by sitting at your desk, answering emails, and filing reports. A promotion is earned. Achieving a promotion isn’t an impossible goal. But to get there you need a good plan. The following suggestions are your starting points for success.
Evaluate Your Skills
You wouldn’t have been hired if you weren’t good at your job. But are you producing enough positive results to earn a promotion? Before you request a promotion, evaluate your job performance. Ask yourself the hard questions—face your fear.
It’s Not All About You
You will never achieve success by yourself. Your colleagues are an important part of your advancement. Study what they do. Understand their pain points. Improving their productivity is a leadership skill and contributes to your chance for promotion.
Write Your Future
Write the story of your career. Imagine where it will lead. This exercise provides a private place to draft new possibilities for your work life. It’s a safe place to practice taking risks. Don’t waste time creating a fantasy about wealth and power. Your career is serious work.
Become the Resident Optimist
Don’t get distracted by the inevitable complaints you hear during the day. Is it hard to do? Yes, sometimes it is. Everyone has bad days. But remember this: negative is easy, positive is hard. Don’t complain—explain. Don’t spread rumors—educate. Build a reputation for being constructive, informed, and open-minded.
Your Evaluation Happens Every Day
Do you ever feel invisible when your workload is building up? During these times remember that your supervisors are taking note of how you manage stress while you reach your goals. If you feel stuck in a negative take time for a mental stretch. Many corporate leaders find insight and get reenergized when they meditate.
Ask For Help
Sometimes you’ll come across a problem you can’t figure out. You need to be brave enough to ask for help. Find a mentor. Build a resource team from various departments. Share the problem. You will be remembered solving problems with creative strategy. Never ignore the wealth of institutional experience at work.
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Finding new ways to manage a business is something that’s always on the mind of a leader. There will always be new things to try, but meditation, a practice that’s been around for thousands of years, can bring a new kind of thinking to leadership. Meditation can provide a better way to manage ourselves. A few minutes in the morning or evenings is all that is necessary to help bring the right thoughts to center and to help a person focus. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was famous for it, and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner does it, too. Meditation is something to be taken seriously if you are looking to improve your mind.
A bad day, or news we don’t want to hear, can put a damper on our state of mind. To prevent this from happening, leaders should take ten minutes during the day to meditate. Regardless of your approach meditation, it is just important that you make time for it. It helps get your day back on track, and is a good start to clear your mind.
As a leader, you may find times that its necessary to be brave. Whether it’s going into an important meeting or giving a motivational speech to the team, it’s important to have a confident mindset. Meditation can help get rid of negative thoughts during high intensity situations. By learning to ignore any negative thinking, worries about what could go wrong go away.
Letting go is difficult when there are so many plates spinning at once. So many times, leaders get stuck in a certain way of thinking that prevents them from seeing the whole picture. Meditation can change this way of thinking. It allows a person to attack problems with a different perspective. By getting rid of past thoughts and clearing the mind, answers to questions will appear naturally.
Like most things, it will take effort and dedication to reap the benefits of meditation, including an increase in calmness. You can also have better control over emotions. The key is to learn to focus on finding your own way instead of adopting someone else’s way of thinking.
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At Cydcor, we know that becoming an effective leader does not happen overnight. It takes effort to learn and practice crucial leadership skills in order to be efficient. Still, people can point out effective leadership when they see it. There are great leaders who naturally become successful, but there are also certain traits that they share. These are a few characteristics of what it takes to be an effective leader.
Optimism
It’s difficult to lead without believing that one day, you will succeed the way you want to. Leaders must have some sort of optimism to keep their hunger for success alive. People will always follow a person who dreams big and knows that everything they want can one day be achieved. Optimism is a trait of leadership that is constantly overlooked but can be effective when trying to gain the trust of team members. Leaders should always be preparing for the future, while still focusing on the present.
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Look Out for the Team
Leaders must move and think quickly, but they must also take time to pause and pay close attention to how their employees are doing. As a leader, you can’t prepare yourself to lead more effectively if you don’t know what is really happening with your team members. Always be on the lookout for evidence of their state of mind and what support they need to reach success and fulfillment in their work.
Constant Preparation
If a leader fails, it’s usually due to their lack of preparation. When an opportunity is missed, it’s often because a leader did not plan for themselves or their employees to see and seize it. Preparation requires accountability and is a responsibility with multiple factors. Every leader sees through a different lens – therefore, they should know what the short and long term preparation demands are for their employees and the business to be successful
Self-Assessment
An effective leader should always be giving employees a critique to see if they can find improvements in any areas. By looking at what the team is doing correct and what they need to work on, leaders can better identify with a team. Checking in with ourselves is never a bad idea.
Make Tough Decisions
Without fail, leaders are called on to make choices that impact both their organization and the people they lead. People want to follow a person who weighs all the options. In other words, good leaders make important decisions based on what’s best for the organization -- and they make them confidently. You will have to make a tough call from time-to-time, but with the right amount of sureness and groundwork, anything is possible.
Big bank accounts aren’t the only thing that millionaires have in common. In order to find success, millionaires have to fully develop traits including courage, vision, and passion. Millionaires use a different line of thinking than everyone else. It’s not just about money, but life as a whole. Since thoughts have an effect on actions, people who want to one day be a millionaire should have the mindset to do so. Here are a few traits that many millionaires share:
Vision
Millionaires are creatives who are constantly seeking the next master plan. These people not only have big dreams, but they also believe that those dreams will one day come true. As such, wealth seekers should set lofty goals and not be afraid of uncharted territories. Professionals need to be constantly scheming about the next step and never dwelling on the past.
Passion
In order to fully reach peak potential, people need to be passionate about what they do for a living. Being able to enjoy work allows a person to build discipline and work their hardest every day. Ask any millionaire, and they’ll tell you that they enjoyed their journey to the top, no matter the difficulty. They believed in what they were doing and knew they really had something to work with. Find that passion, and one day you will realize you’ve loved what you’re doing for years.
Salesmanship
How are your sales skills? Millionaires are constantly pitching their concepts and plans, trying to sell others on the idea. Many millionaires also have well-developed social skills. Being able to converse with anyone and tell their side of the story makes things a lot easier. Developing sales skills, either professionally or on the side, can add a lot of weight to their business abilities.
No Fear
No one wants to find out they haven’t been successful with their latest endeavor. Most of us are afraid of failure. The thought of failure brings about a negative reaction and immediately brings up our insecurities. However, being afraid of failure also creates a fear of changing things. Nothing ever grows in the comfort zone. Millionaires know that failure is an essential part of success. We learn many things from falling down, but what matters is how we get back up. For millionaires, failure is just one step closer to real success.
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