Follow Your Passion What Kind of Advice Is That

Follow Your Passion What Kind of Advice Is That Im intrigued by the advice Ive heard for decades to simply follow my passion. Do that, and the money will follow, they say. I have to disagree. I dont think that you have to discard, or put away, your passion, but I do not think that we will all be able to make a living by doing what our passion is.  Sometimes, our passion is something that we cant do (like me playing professional basketball or football), or the passion is not monetizable.  Okay, maybe if you are creative you could monetize pretty much anything, but some things might be (a) hard to monetize, or (b) not ripe for monetization (in other words, you cant make much money doing it). So, what do we do?  Resolve to work in a field that we cant stand? No, Im not saying that either. The message Id like to give is that if you find work in a field that you are not passionate about, it doesnt mean your life is a failure.  Let me present an idea to you: Find your passion outside of your job. Plenty of people go to work, take pride in what they do, are okay with it, and then spend their non-working ours pursuing their passion.  Maybe they volunteer, or paint in their home, or join clubs, or whatever My point is, if you havent found your passion, or you arent in a field you are passionate about, you arent necessarily a loser, and you might not be wasting your time. You can certainly choose how and where youll spend your time, outside of the office. Follow Your Passion What Kind of Advice Is That Im intrigued by the advice Ive heard for decades to simply follow my passion. Do that, and the money will follow, they say. I have to disagree. I dont think that you have to discard, or put away, your passion, but I do not think that we will all be able to make a living by doing what our passion is.  Sometimes, our passion is something that we cant do (like me playing professional basketball or football), or the passion is not monetizable.  Okay, maybe if you are creative you could monetize pretty much anything, but some things might be (a) hard to monetize, or (b) not ripe for monetization (in other words, you cant make much money doing it). So, what do we do?  Resolve to work in a field that we cant stand? No, Im not saying that either. The message Id like to give is that if you find work in a field that you are not passionate about, it doesnt mean your life is a failure.  Let me present an idea to you: Find your passion outside of your job. Plenty of people go to work, take pride in what they do, are okay with it, and then spend their non-working ours pursuing their passion.  Maybe they volunteer, or paint in their home, or join clubs, or whatever My point is, if you havent found your passion, or you arent in a field you are passionate about, you arent necessarily a loser, and you might not be wasting your time. You can certainly choose how and where youll spend your time, outside of the office.

Why Your Career Might Be Stuck In The Past

Why Your Career Might Be Stuck In The Past Flickr by https://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan under creative commons Lots of careers advice out there today focuses on what you can do to move yourself on in your career. Get sorted on Linkedin, start networking better, get your CV sorted out, learn ten top tips from some ex-Apprentice contestants, etc. etc. A lot of it may be useful in some way; the problem is that it may not be what you really need. My school nurse was famous for giving soluble paracetamol for everything from headaches through growing pains, vomiting, and up to broken bones; it was her fix all cure. Similarly, not everyone is being held back in their careers because they’re not making enough out of Linkedin or whatever else. The key questions in your career, nine times out of ten, are why are you where you are? And what can you do about it? Anyone remember the film Sliding Doors? It stars Gwyneth Paltrow and looks at one moment in her life (catching a tube train, or just missing it) and in tandem looks at the two different paths the main characters life could take from that one moment. This highlights a key point of thinking about stories as being dominated by turning points or fate. The sociologist Anthony Giddens spoke about just this idea when he discussed what he calls fateful moments. So ask yourself what are the big moments that have made you who you are? Get out a pen and paper or open up Evernote or whatever else you have on your preferred mobile device and write a few down. Are the big moments moments that were forced upon you choosing subjects at school, what degree to do, what uni to go to; are the moments based on what you did getting top marks in a subject, failing GCSE maths, getting that work experience, getting on that internship scheme; or maybe they’re the unique things that only happened to you that shaped who you are that class you took that changed how you thought about the world, that TV programme that gave you a different outlook on life, that person who inspired you and made you want to be different? How might this help you? It can take time and effort to make use of this sort of reflection and critical thinking. Some of you may be reading this and have no intention to do what I just talked about. So let me outline how thinking about your turning points may be of potentially vital use. What are my strengths? Think about the key moments you have been successful; what allowed you to be successful then? Thinking about this can be of particular value as it produces evidence that you can use in an application process as well. What are your weaknesses? When have you not been successful? Knowing what has held you back can be vital, as it shows you what situations to avoid and what you need to develop. Thinking about our weaknesses is never easier, so it is vital to have evidence from our past to do it properly. What resources allow you to progress? Resources are slightly different to strengths; they are things external to you that help you. Think your contacts, location, groups you are part of, time, money, etc. Noticing what resources are of particular use allows you to focus on what resources to make use of to progress. What assumptions have you been making? Where have you focused on your decisions? What has driven you to where you are? Sometimes when we get stuck we need to be radical and change something. Thinking about our assumptions can be vital for focusing on what may need to be changed to move ourselves forward. The real key is to look at your turning points in light of these questions. Don’t just look at your turning points, otherwise it will be reflection for no reason; but don’t look at the questions without the turning points or you will have no evidence to build things on and you will likely focus on a limited perspective. Hope this has given you a bit of a feel for how reflection and narratives could be used in your career if you haven’t used these ideas before. I’m hoping to do a few extra posts on this subject for Career Geek around narratives and motives and narratives and communicating yourself. 6

Its Not Enough to Just be a Better Mousetrap - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Its Not Enough to Just be a Better Mousetrap - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Theres a saying by Ralph Waldo Emerson that many innovators like: Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. We love it because the saying implies an invention or fresh idea simply needs to be better than whats already out there to be successful. All we need to do is create it and customers will throw cash or fame our way. Sadly, it doesnt work that way.   Case in point: the mousetrap itself. The spring-loaded mousetrap was invented in the late 1900s.   Since then, tons of new (and better) mousetraps have been invented.   You can now reduce your mouse problem through live traps, glue traps, water traps and other gruesome devices.   Theres even a mousetrap that gently gases mice and then emails you a notice.   PETA calls that one an animal friendly achievement! But, when you think of solutions to your mouse problem, I bet your mind still goes to the simple spring-loaded trap. (Or your cat.) Why is that? Its probably because the plain, ordinary, run-of-the mill mousetraps are the ones that get all the attention.  Cartoon characters are always sticking their fingers into them (as well as some not-so-smart comedians on television).  Kids use them to build tiny spring-operated cars in shop classes in middle school.  And, Ill bet that while most shops out there dont even carry most of the fancy mousetrap models, they all have the simple one that everyone knows. Heres the truth: It doesnt matter if youre a better solution to someones problem if they dont know that you exist. Personal branding is essential Thats why personal branding is so essential today. If youre hoping that people will instantly recognize what makes you amazing, youre going to be disappointed. You may be much, much better at something than your competition (other job seekers) but that doesnt mean youll stand out. There are too many other people out there with similar resumes and backgroundsand too many hiring managers are receiving hoards of job applications for every available job.  They dont have time to sift through every word of resumes, looking for things that make you amazing.     Theyre simply looking for people who meet the requirements of the job. Im sure you can understand.  After all, if your house is overrun with mice, you probably dont spend 30 minutes in the hardware store reading reviews of every mousetrap on the market to find one that works you just rush into the hardware store and grab the first one you see that you know will do the trick. Obviously, thats not always the best way to go. In my case, I definitely would be interested in a mousetrap that made the whole experience more human but until today, I didnt even know there was such a thing as a PETA-approved mousetrap!  (Bet you didnt either.) And, most hiring managers would definitely be interested in hiring someone who was a better mousetrap for the job. But if all they have to look at is your bland, generic resume, theyre probably not going to know you exist either. So, if you want people to realize that you have some amazing qualities that make you the perfect person for a job, you need to stop waiting for someone to pluck you off the shelf to take a closer look. (Or, more likely, give you the chance to explain in an interview.)   You need to get out there and make everyone believe that youre the better option! After all, if someone already knows theyre looking for a better mousetrap when they start shopping, theyll walk right past the ordinary, run-of-the-mill models without even a second glance! Author: Katie Konrath writes about “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped” at getFreshMinds.com, a top innovation blog.

Financial Makeover Week 1 Getting Started and The Truth About Minimum Payments

Financial Makeover Week 1 Getting Started and The Truth About Minimum Payments This is the part where you get on the scale and face that scary number. This is also the part of the makeover where you learn Albert Einsteins definition of insanity: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This week your job is to gather all of your credit card statements. Then, on a spreadsheet or in a notebook (whichever you will not avoid) write down each accounts balance as of December 31, 2008. Here is a simple example representing Sally Simples credit card debt: Macys $500 22% WaMu $2.000 16% Chase $4,000 12% Sally has $6,500 in credit card debt. Where should she begin paying this down? Good News: If you are only paying the minimum payments each month, then you are building your credit score by consistently paying on time. Bad News: If you are only paying minimum payments each month, you may be stuck with your debt for over 20 years if you keep this pattern going. Now Sally has Two Choices: 1. Sally can focus on paying off the card with the highest interest rate first, as mathematically this will save her the most money in the long run. 2. She may want to consider paying off the card with the lowest balance first so she can see her progress and stay motivated. The Math Behind Your Minimum Payment For this example we will use Sallys Chase card, which has an interest rate of 12% and a balance of $4,000. If Sally pays only the minimum payment on her credit card each month, it will take her over 23 years to pay her card off and she would end up paying Chase $3,696.57 in INTEREST. If Sally decided to pay a consistent $100 per month (which in this example happens to be only $20 more than the initial minimum payment), it will take her just over 4 years and cost her $1,133.87 in interest to reach a zero balance. These numbers assume Sally never charges another thing on thing on this card again. If she kept on swiping away, these numbers would look much worse. So my major lessons about high interest credit cards and minimum payments are: 1. Decide what you can afford to pay in fixed payments each month and pay without fail. • Even when the balance starts going down, keep paying this payment so you chip away at the principal rather than drowning yourself in interest only payments. 2. If you are truly dedicated to getting out of debt, stop using your credit cards if at all possible. Otherwise, this plan really doesnt work. This may mean cutting up all but 1 or 2 cards in case of an emergency. 3. Play with this calculator to understand the real cost of charging an unexpected emergency on your credit card.

Administrative Assistant Resume Objective - Writes the Perfect Statement

Administrative Assistant Resume Objective - Writes the Perfect StatementThe purpose of an administrative assistant resume objective is to create the right impression of your abilities and qualifications. In other words, it's a 'seller' in that it's the first thing potential employers are going to see. Here's how to make it work for you.First, you need to identify what your administrative assistant resume objective is going to say. This part can be tricky because it depends on what position you're applying for. Typically, it'll say something like: I am a person who is responsible for organizing, preparing, and filing correspondence and billing paperwork.Writing this kind of thing doesn't need to be that difficult. However, if it requires any detailed explanation, it'll likely be best to discuss it with a friend or colleague to help you out. In fact, when you're writing your own letter, you'll want to take a page from the administrator's 'Best Seller' by hiring someone to write the let ter for you.Next, you'll want to explain how your work would fit into your objective. You might mention that you do little to nothing in the office (though that certainly isn't the case). You could also say that you're accountable for running the accounts payable department, including customer service and getting payables paid. That's quite a bit to ask, so it's a good idea to think about what you'd be doing in that capacity, and find a way to fit it into your short description.Know that this part may sound like you're hiding something. No one is looking for a liar! Do you know what your real job description might be? Do you think you could do that thing that's being described?Write it down so you can have it handy and make sure it sounds like the administrator's opinion. You should be able to provide a sample of the things you've done as a result of your job description. For example, if you're responsible for accounting, you might say that you prepare and maintain comprehensive acc ounts payable procedures. If you're working in a certain industry, you might say that you do account planning, bill writing, collecting, and filing.All of those different ways you can describe what you do might look very similar, but they'll all be individual. In other words, how many times have you seen someone applying for an accounting job on a resume that included all of the same description but was missing just one sentence? This is why it's so important to be specific.So, you now know how to craft an administrative assistant resume objective that will attract the employer's attention. Make it positive and provide it in a professional manner.

Critical Thinking A-Level AS Units, Topics, and Modules

Critical Thinking A-Level AS Units, Topics, and Modules Critical Thinking at A-Level is a qualification offered by OCR, one of the main exam boards for secondary and higher education. Critical Thinking is the study of arguments, problems, and ideas, as well as the logic the binds arguments together. The role of a critical thinker is to spot faulty reasoning in the arguments that other people make, whilst using reason and evidence when forming their own positions.Critical Thinking is particularly useful in the modern information era, where it’s easy to be bombarded by news, facts, and opinions. Sometimes, people want to push an agenda, and will misinterpret data or twist events to suit it. Sadly, you can’t just accept everything at face value.A good critical thinker will be able to analyse and evaluate arguments, develop their own arguments, and be able to follow evidence and logic to the best conclusion. These are all invaluable skills for staying informed about how things truly are in the modern era.Like most other A-Level subjects, it’s divided into two parts:• AS Level; • A2 Level.From here, AS and A2 Levels are split into the following units:Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" AS Units • The language of reasoning; • Credibility; • Analysis of argument; • Evaluating arguments; • Developing reasoned arguments.Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" A2 Units • Ethical theories; • Recognising and applying principles; • Dilemmas and decision-making; • Analysis of complex arguments; • Evaluating complex arguments; • Developing cogent and complex arguments.Here, we’re going to take a look at each of the topics. In this post, we’re going to focus on the AS Level units.Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" The Language of ReasoningThis is the introductory module to Critical Thinking, where students will learn the very basics of argumentation. In this unit, students will learn how to identify an argument, as well as the premises and conclusion which constitute it. In addition to this, students will ha ve to be able to explain what the following ideas and devices are, and be able to identify them in an argument:• Reason; • Conclusion; • Evidence; • Examples; • Hypothetical reasoning (such as ‘if, then’ statements); • Counter-assertion; • Counter-argument; • Assumptions.On top of this, students must be able to evaluate evidence which is frequently used in arguments:• Ambiguity in statistical data; • The representative quality and size of surveys; • How evidence was collected; • Alternative ways of interpreting the same data.Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" CredibilityThe credibility module focuses on students’ ability to assess claims made in a text. In other words, students need to be able to show an understanding of the following in the context of argumentation. In addition, they need to be able to identify these features:• Vested interest or bias; • Corroboration of evidence; • Plausibility of evidence; • Expertise of sources providing evide nce; • Positive and negative reputation; • Consistency and inconsistency.Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" Analysis of ArgumentIn this module, students will learn how to analyse arguments effectively. In order to do this, they’ll need to understand the tools and devices used in arguments. These include the following terms:  Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" Evaluating ArgumentsIn this module, students will be asked to assess strengths or weaknesses in arguments. Students will begin to learn about logical and argumentative fallacies. This gives them the tools to identify poor arguments quicker. These include the following:Finally, students will learn about appeals. These are kinds of argumentative fallacy which rely on appeal to a falsehood in order to support an argument. Candidates need to be able to identify these fallacies, and also explain why they are a poor form of reasoning. These include:• Appeal to authority; • Appeal to tradition; • Appeal to history (induction); • Appeal to popularity (bandwagon fallacy); • Appeal to emotion.Critical Thinking at A-Level â€" Developing Reasoned ArgumentsWhile the previous units were focused on analysing other people’s arguments, this module teaches and assesses based on how to create strong arguments. Students will have to create their own arguments using the following criteria:• At least three reasons or premises to support a conclusion; • An intermediate conclusion; • Appropriate use of evidence to support the conclusion; • A counter-assertion; • A counter-argument; • Hypothetical reasoning.ConclusionSo, now you have an idea about what modules you’ll have to complete in the AS Level part of the critical thinking A-Level. In the next post, we’ll be taking a look at the modules in the A2 portion of the critical thinking A-Level.If you’re planning on starting your A-Levels soon and want some guidance on how to complete them with the best grades possible, check out our guide: Pass Your A-levels with A*s. This entry was posted in Education. Bookmark the permalink. Jacob Senior Safety for Kids: Call 999 in an EmergencySouth Australia Police Tests â€" How to Pass

5 Tips for Acing the Job Interview

5 Tips for Acing the Job Interview Many people tell me they are great interviewers once they get in front of the hiring manager. And while you might be relaxed and a great conversationalist during the interview process, are you truly prepared for the interview or just turning on the charm and winging it? Here are five tips for acing the interview.Be able to articulate your value proposition to an employer from a 40,000 foot view. Focus on three key strengths that are relevant to the employer and prove those strengths by sharing a story of success that demonstrates each of these key competencies. Most employers believe past performance is a good indicator of future success so this is a very effective strategy for building trust with the hiring manager.  Be specific. When answering questions, point to specific situations rather than general information about your abilities. For example, if you are asked about your communication skills, don’t just state that you have strong written and oral skills; instead showcase an example of when you used these skills to articulate your vision or persuade your audience.  Be quantitative. Whenever possible, point to a specific measurement to prove how you have done things smarter, faster or more efficiently. For example, rather than saying you cut costs, improved sales, or streamlined a process, discuss the before and after and associated metrics such as cut costs by 30% in 18 months, grew sales 10% year over year for 5 consecutive years or eliminated hundreds of man hours by retooling a cumbersome process.  Be authentic. Don’t spin a weakness into a strength; if asked if you have ever made a mistake or failed at something, showcase a genuine story that acknowledges a mistake, points to what you learned from the experience and references how you would do things differently if you were hired by this employer.  Be proactive. Before the end of the interview, ask what the next steps in the hiring process are and reiterate your interest in the positions and the r easons you believe you are a good fit.