SELF-IMAGE

SELF-IMAGE

Self-image can be defined as self-worth; a picture of what kind of person a man perceived himself to be (Maxwell Maltz). Throughout history it has been seen as a determinant or one of the biggest factors that determines success or otherwise of a person. Just as it was written on the emerald tablet 3000BC: as above so below, as within so without; so it is up till now.

How then is this image formed? Do we have negatives? If yes, how do pictures develop from negatives? First, the shape of a mould determines the shape of the product. A mould is metallurgical equipment, having the shape of the intended product and is used to cast (produce) the final or desired product.

Often times the parents or custodian of a child moulds or contribute in a significant measure the character of a child due to the image(s) that is embossed over the course of his/her lifetime. Research conducted on prison inmates observed that 95% of prisoners have been condemned from their childhood by their custodian or parent. Some have heard said to them these words:  thief, armed robber, victim, you cannot turn out well with the way you are behaving etc. These people taught they will correct their mild juvenile delinquencies by such words or been hash on them to an extent that the child security is threatened. These endanger self-hatred, and in a bid to win back the love they supposed to be given unconditionally from their parents make them develop a try-to-please-everybody attitude. This attitude cannot withstand or overcome life challenges or peer pressures.

The book a man read are catapult that propels him speedily in the direction of the contents of such books. If he reads good books he moves faster to become a good leader; this is an I-can-do-it image. If he reads bad ones, he is a threat to his society (John Maxwell).

Association creates character; the Book says evil communication corrupts good habit. The belief(s) ideas of what kind of person you are as seen by your friends go a long way to paint your perception of what sort of person you are. The interesting thing is that you become who you think you are.

Lastly, as a man ‘grows through life’, his thought and actions are what finally shapes this picture he carries. In other words he can change or alter this image to suite the life he wants. He does this by reading books consistent with his desired life, associating with people already living such life and then acting the part or life the he wanted. According to Earl Nightingale, if you want to change an attitude starts by acting the life or part you imagined or desired.

Catch you later.

WEALTH CREATION: is Bill Gates a thief?

Wealth is the state of being rich, it may not only be in monetary form but most time those with other forms of wealth other than money often end up as moneybags. Prior to the invention of money around seventh to sixth century BC trade by barter was the accepted market medium of transaction. Up until now trade  by barter still exist; currency only ease this exchange process. The famous American philosopher Jim Rohn said what you have at the present you have attracted to yourself by who you become.
How do we become a person of value? How can we create market worth that can attract wealth into our lives is the major assignment everybody tries to unravel. This is the puzzle Bill Gates solved that made him the richest [and legitimate owner of wealth] man on planet today. Bellow are 6 steps I think can help us in achieving our dream:

1] Read great books:
you are what you eat does not only apply to body heath but also to our soul. Man becomes what he think or focuses on all day long, hence focus on wealth and how to create it then you become successful.  It has been said that success live clues, rich men across ages has been studied and their experiences documented ; hence the price of any book cannot equate it.

2] Set goals:
a lot have been written about this, get book like those written by Brian Tracy.

3] Mentor:
Expert are said to be those who have made all the mistakes in a narrow field, don't repeat the process learn from them. A good thing about this is that they are willing to show people with pride how resilient and smart they were before they get to their present peak.

4] Get uncomfortable:
Comfort is one of the greatest enemy of success.

5]Solve peoples problems

6]Do what you love

Finally these processes requires time; it doesn't happen overnight. You must have the courage [got] to see it to the end. In the interim you may be seen as a fool. Don't forget what Steve Jobs said : 'Be foolish and be hungry'.
I will also appreciate your comments on how to create wealth. See you next time

If you don't want social media to ruin your Professional Reputation then this is a must read ...

How to Ruin Your Professional Reputation

By ALISON GREEN

Alison Green

Your professional reputation is enormously important; it's what will make people want to work with you, hire you and respect you as a colleague. It can be your safety net – getting you work when you need it, and putting you in a position where you have options and don't need to stay in a bad situation or take the first opportunity that comes along.

But it's easy to squander this incredibly valuable resource, and it doesn't take much to do it. Here are eight easy ways to ruin your work reputation.

1. Accept a job offer and then back out later. People sometimes accept one job offer but continue interviewing in case they get an offer they like better, but there's a huge cost to your reputation for doing this; you'll be known as someone whose word is suspect and who cuts and runs. And people from one company have a way of popping up again at other companies for which you may want to work. Imagine that you really want a job offer in the future, and one of the decision-makers is someone who used to work for this employer. "Jane took a job with us but backed out right before she was supposed to start" are not words you want spoken about you when you're interviewing.

2. Worse, start a new job and then quit after a month for a different one. It's one thing if the job is truly a bad fit and you're miserable or if it's not what you were led to believe it would be during the hiring process. But starting a new job and then leaving it quickly just because something better came along is a good way to do the same damage as in No. 1 – but it's even worse since the company will have invested time and resources into training you, introducing you to clients and so forth.

3. Lose your temper at work. It's normal to occasionally get frustrated, but you're crossing a line if you're yelling, slamming doors or snapping at people. It only takes one incident like this to get a reputation as the angry guy with whom no one wants to work, and that's a label that's very hard to shake.

4. Lie. Whether it's lying to cover up a mistake or adding a few thousand dollars to your salary history in the hopes of getting a better offer, getting caught lying is a surefire way to fatally harm your reputation with anyone who hears about it. The workplace depends on being able to take people at their word; if you show that people can't trust you, you'll have a terrible time building the relationships that you need at work and when you're looking for your next job.

5. Make commitments that you don't keep. You build credibility by showing people that you mean what you say – doing what you say you're going to do and following through on commitments. But if you do the opposite – if you say you'll send that report over by Monday but forget to do it, or promise to set up a meeting about your new account but don't follow through – you'll ruin your credibility and get a reputation for flakiness and unreliability.

6. Recommend someone for a job when you don't really think they would be right for it. When you recommend someone, you're vouching for him or her – you're saying that the person does what you consider to be great work, and that he or she is someone with whom you'd be thrilled to work. But if it's not true, you could end up being known as "the person who felt Joe's work was fine, when in fact Joe's work was awful and he was impossible to work with." After all, your assessment of someone's work says something about your own work, standards and judgment.

7. Quit your job without notice. Unless you have really, really good reason, quitting your job without notice will burn bridges with your employer (and often your co-workers too) and can be the kiss of death for future reference calls. Fair or not, the standard is two weeks notice.

8. Send a hostile email after something happens that you don't like. Whether it's jotting off an angry response to a new policy at work or sending a bitter reply after you get rejected for a job, angry letter bombs are hard to live down. You'll look like someone who doesn't know how to address concerns calmly and professionally, and most people will respond by giving you a wide berth.

9 Qualities Of Truly Confident People

First things first: Confidence is not bravado, or swagger, or an overt pretense of bravery. Confidence is not some bold or brash air of self-belief directed at others.

Confidence is quiet: It’s a natural expression of ability, expertise, and self-regard.

I’m fortunate to know a number of truly confident people. Many work with me at HubSpot, others are fellow founders of their own startups some of whom I've met through my angel investment activity. But the majority are people I’ve met through my career and who work in a variety of industries and professions.

It comes as no surprise they all share a number of qualities:

1. They take a stand not because they think they are always right… but because they are not afraid to be wrong.

Cocky and conceited people tend to take a position and then proclaim, bluster, and totally disregard differing opinions or points of view. They know they’re right – and they want (actually they need) you to know it too.

Their behavior isn’t a sign of confidence, though; it’s the hallmark of an intellectual bully.

Truly confident people don’t mind being proven wrong. They feel finding out what is right is a lot more important than being right. And when they’re wrong, they’re secure enough to back down graciously.

Truly confident people often admit they’re wrong or don’t have all the answers; intellectual bullies never do.

2. They listen ten times more than they speak.

Bragging is a mask for insecurity. Truly confident people are quiet and unassuming. They already know what they think; they want to know what you think.

So they ask open-ended questions that give other people the freedom to be thoughtful and introspective: They ask what you do, how you do it, what you like about it, what you learned from it… and what they should do if they find themselves in a similar situation.

Truly confident people realize they know a lot, but they wish they knew more… and they know the only way to learn more is to listen more.

3. They duck the spotlight so it shines on others.

Perhaps it’s true they did the bulk of the work. Perhaps they really did overcome the major obstacles. Perhaps it’s true they turned a collection of disparate individuals into an incredibly high performance team.

Truly confident people don’t care – at least they don’t show it. (Inside they’re proud, as well they should be.) Truly confident people don’t need the glory; they know what they’ve achieved.

They don’t need the validation of others, because true validation comes from within.

So they stand back and celebrate their accomplishments through others. They stand back and let others shine – a confidence boost that helps those people become truly confident, too.

4. They freely ask for help.

Many people feel asking for help is a sign of weakness; implicit in the request is a lack of knowledge, skill, or experience.

Confident people are secure enough to admit a weakness. So they often ask others for help, not only because they are secure enough to admit they need help but also because they know that when they seek help they pay the person they ask a huge compliment.

Saying, “Can you help me?” shows tremendous respect for that individual’s expertise and judgment. Otherwise you wouldn't ask.

5. They think, “Why not me?”

Many people feel they have to wait: To be promoted, to be hired, to be selected, to be chosen... like the old Hollywood cliché, to somehow be discovered.

Truly confident people know that access is almost universal. They can connect with almost anyone through social media. (Everyone you know knows someone you should know.) They know they can attract their own funding, create their own products, build their own relationships and networks, choose their own path – they can choose to follow whatever course they wish.

And very quietly, without calling attention to themselves, they go out and do it.

6. They don't put down other people.

Generally speaking, the people who like to gossip, who like to speak badly of others, do so because they hope by comparison to make themselves look better.

The only comparison a truly confident person makes is to the person she was yesterday – and to the person she hopes to someday become.

7. They aren’t afraid to look silly…

Running around in your underwear is certainly taking it to extremes… but when you’re truly confident, you don’t mind occasionally being in a situation where you aren't at your best.

(And oddly enough, people tend to respect you more when you do – not less.)

8. … And they own their mistakes.

Insecurity tends to breed artificiality; confidence breeds sincerity and honesty.

That’s why truly confident people admit their mistakes. They dine out on their screw-ups. They don’t mind serving as a cautionary tale. They don’t mind being a source of laughter – for others and for themselves.

When you’re truly confident, you don’t mind occasionally “looking bad.” You realize that that when you’re genuine and unpretentious, people don’t laugh at you.

They laugh with you.

9. They only seek approval from the people who really matter.

You say you have 10k Twitter followers? Swell. 20k Facebook friends? Cool. A professional and social network of hundreds or even thousands? That’s great.

But that also pales in comparison to earning the trust and respect of the few people in your life that truly matter.

When we earn their trust and respect, no matter where we go or what we try, we do it with true confidence – because we know the people who truly matter the most are truly behind us. Article by Dharmesh Shah

Negotiating a great pay..

A Quick Trick For Getting A Big Raise

Try naming a precise number, like $94,500 rather than a round number like $95,000.

Every time I’ve ever had a discussion about my salary, it never occurred to me to discuss anything but a round number, in the thousands, and preferably in the fives or tens of thousands. I recall a recent talk about a potential jump to another employer. We discussed numbers and they were all in denominations of five thousands. I stayed put, but in retrospect, I realize I felt locked into those big round numbers.

Now new research by professors at Columbia Business School suggests that we may be losing out by getting stuck on multiples of five and ten, instead of breaking our salary requests into less-common fractions. In fact, if you zero in on a more unusual request, say, for $94,500 instead of $95,000, you may get closer to your goal in the final negotiation.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported on a paper by researchers at Columbia Business School who found that by staying away from round numbers, especially in your initial request, also known as the anchor number, you will be more likely to come out of the negotiation with a higher figure.

The Columbia researchers didn’t look at salary negotiations per se, but it makes sense to apply their conclusions. The more exacting you can be about your anchor number, the more a hiring manager or supervisor will think you’ve done your homework to come up with such a precise calculation. If you use a round number, it’s a way of telling your counter-negotiator that you don’t have specific knowledge of what the job entails and what the market will pay for your skills.

The lead author on the paper, Malia Mason, teaches a course in managerial negotiations. She told the Journal that she got the idea for the study after taking a cab in Prague and finding herself trying to figure out the fare with the driver, who wanted 1,000 korunas ($50), which she knew was arbitrary. “It made me think about how we use round numbers and what they convey about the state of our knowledge,” she told the Journal.

Mason set up several experiments to test her idea about arbitrariness . In one, she had 130 sets of people haggle over the price of a used car. Those who started with a round number wound up paying $2,963 more than those who gave a more exact number to start, who paid an average of $2,256 more than the initial offer.

Mason says the best strategy is to start with a high number that is not round, like $94,500. Apply that to a salary negotiation and a hiring manager may be inclined to talk you down to $93,000. That’s much better than if you asked for $95,000 and the person on the other side of the table wound up getting you down to $90,000. “We often think a higher anchor is the way to go,” Mason told the Journal. “But you risk upsetting people if you’re too extreme. We found that you could be less extreme if you were precise and still do better in the end.”

The best strategy: Start with a high number that is not extreme but that is also precise, hopefully based on numbers you’ve gleaned from research on sites like Glassdoor.com and Payscale. I just searched for my title, senior editor, on Glassdoor, and found some good, un-round numbers, like $118,000, $101,000 and $93,000. Glassdoor also helpfully has a column of “average starting salaries” at each company, and those are quite precise. At Conde Nast, the average for a senior editor is $98,733. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt it’s $59,992. Those numbers are probably too granular even for Prof. Mason, but they are helpful in setting a benchmark based on research, like, say, $98,750 if you are applying for a senior editor job at Conde Nast.

I like Prof. Mason’s idea of proposing specific anchor numbers but in the salary context, I am reminded of what many coaches have said to me as I’ve written stories on the career beat: Don’t be the first one to name a number in a salary negotiation, especially if it’s for a new job. When asked how much you are currently making, say, “I make a competitive salary,” and how much you want to make, say, “I hope to make a competitive salary for this field.” Once the other person has named a number, you can come back with a higher figure. But Prof. Mason’s research suggests you shouldn’t name a number in the fives of thousands. Try a more specific figure and you’ll likely do much better.  When it comes to raises, do the same. Try checking on the rate of inflation and adding it to you salary, plus whatever merit you think you deserve–say a bump of 10% or 15%. That will likely yield you a precise number and you will have substantive reasons behind it that can back up your request if you wind up negotiating further by Susan Adams.

Act like a leader to become one.

If you want to become a leader, don't wait for the fancy title or the corner office. You can begin to act, think, and communicate like a leader long before that promotion. Even if you're still several levels down and someone else is calling all the shots, there are numerous ways to demonstrate your potential and carve your path to the role you want.

What the Experts Say
"It's never foolish to begin preparing for a transition no matter how many years away it is or where you are in your career," says Muriel Maignan Wilkins, coauthor of Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence. Michael Watkins, the chairman of Genesis Advisers and author of The First 90 Days and Your Next Move, agrees. Not only does the planning help you develop the necessary skills and leadership presence, it also increases your chances of getting the promotion because people will already recognize you as a leader. The key is to take on opportunities now, regardless of your tenure or role. "You can demonstrate leadership at any time no matter what your title is," says Amy Jen Su, coauthor of Own the Room. Here are several ways to start laying the groundwork.

Knock your responsibilities out of the park
No matter how big your ambitions, don't let them distract you from excelling in your current role. Focus on the present as much as — or more than — the future. "You still have to deliver results in your day job," says Jen Su. Adds Maignan Wilkins: "You always need to take care of today's business so that nobody — peers, direct reports, or those above you — questions your performance." That's the first step to getting ahead.

Help your boss succeed
"You have to execute on your boss's priorities too," says Watkins. "Show her that you're willing to pick up the baton on important projects." Maignan Wilkins also suggests you "lean more towards yes than no" whenever your boss asks you to help with something new. Find out what keeps your manager up at night and propose solutions to those problems.

Seize leadership opportunities, no matter how small
Make sure your "let me take that on" attitude extends beyond your relationship with your boss. Raise your hand for new initiatives, especially ones that might be visible to those outside your unit. "This will give others a taste of what you'll be like in a more senior role," says Maignan Wilkins. It doesn't have to be an intense, months-long project. It might be something as simple as facilitating a meeting, offering to help with recruiting events, or stepping in to negotiate a conflict between peers. You might find opportunities outside of work, too. You can sit on the board of a local nonprofit or organize your community's volunteer day. "These activities send the signal that you aspire to leadership potential," Watkins says.

Look for the white space
Another way to prove your potential is to take on projects in the "white space." These are problems that others aren't willing to tackle or don't even know exist. "Every organization has needs that nobody is paying attention to, or people are actively ignoring," Maignan Wilkins says. For example, you might be able to identify a customer need that isn't being met by your company's current product line, and propose a new one. Or you could do a quick analysis of how much a specific change would save the company. When you take on a task that no one else is willing to do, you make yourself stand out.

Don't be a jerk
There's a fine line between being ambitious and acting like you're too big for your britches. "Don't try to exert authority when you don't have it," says Watkins. Practice what he calls "steward leadership": focus on what your team wants to accomplish instead of putting yourself first. Jen Su recommends "humble confidence," showing appropriate modesty in your role, while having the self-assurance to know that you will rise to the next level.

Be cautious when sharing your ambitions
It's appropriate to raise your ambitions with your manager if you have a trusting, solid relationship, but frame them in a way that focuses on what's best for the company. Jen Su suggests you lay out your accomplishments for the past year and then ask something like, "As we look further out, where do you see me continuing to make a contribution?" Watkins warns that these conversations shouldn't come off as being all about you. Instead, engage in a two-way conversation with your boss. If you have the kind of boss who may feel threatened by your aspirations, it's better to keep your ambitions quiet and prove your potential.

Find role models
Look for people who have the roles you want and study what they do — how they act, communicate, and dress. "Pick someone at the next level, someone similar to you, and find a way to work with them," says Watkins. Volunteer for a committee they're spearheading or offer to help with one of their pet projects. Identify behaviors that you can emulate while being true to yourself. "You don't want to fake it," says Maignan Wilkins. It might also help to study people who are stuck in their careers as examples of what not to do, Watkins says. Are they clumsy politically? Do they disrespect the lines of authority? Do they fail to make connections between departments?

Build relationships
There's an old adage, "It's not who you know, it's who knows you." When you're evaluated for a promotion, it's unlikely your boss will sit in a room alone and contemplate your potential. She'll rely on others to assess your ability, which means you need supporters across the organization — people who are aware of the work you're doing. "If you find yourself walking down the hall with the most senior person at your company, be prepared to answer the question, 'So what are you up to?'" Maignan Wilkins says, "Don't take lightly any interactions that may seem informal. Treat every situation as an opportunity to demonstrate the value you bring to the organization and your knowledge of the business."

Principles to Remember

Do:

• Look for every opportunity to demonstrate your leadership potential, at work and outside the office
• Support your boss in reaching her goals
• Find people in positions you aspire to and study what makes them successful

Don't:

• Let your ambitions distract you from doing your current job well
• Exert authority where you don't have any — use influence to prove your leadership chops
• Openly discuss your ambitions — it's safer to take a "show, don't tell" approach

Case study #1: Focus on solving problems, not getting promoted
In late 2010, after ten years at Citi, Heather Espinosa was promoted to managing director. She reached this executive position by continuously challenging herself — and by making the most of each of her previous roles. "I've never been concerned with my title. When I thought an assignment was a stretch, I took it," she explains. "When I applied for my previous position, the job carried the title 'project manager.' But after my first conversation with the manager, I knew it was a position that would require complex leadership skills and challenge me, so I accepted the job."

In each role, Heather embraced additional responsibilities without being asked. "I make an effort to volunteer and raise my hand where I see a need. I started taking on the responsibility of managing director with the hope that if I performed well, the title would come." And her bosses have always respected this approach. "I rarely walk into my manager's office and say I want to talk about my career or my next promotion. I walk in and say here's a problem and here's how we might address it," she says.

Case study #2: Take any leadership opportunity you can get
Mike Subelsky, the co-founder and CTO at Staq, a tech start-up that makes software for digital advertising companies, spent most of his early career in roles with lots of responsibility, but not much authority. "I held a number of positions where I felt I had a great deal of influence, but I was never the one calling the shots," he says.

Still he worked hard, hoping to someday move up the ladder. "I've always tried to be the kind of employee that the boss never has to worry about," he explains. He focused on doing the best he could in whatever role he had, and always raised his hand for projects. He also looked for opportunities to exercise leadership outside of the office. In 2004, he started a nonprofit in Baltimore. "It was a great laboratory," he says. "It allowed me to practice being a leader."

Then, last year, he and his partner co-founded Staq. All of Mike's preparation had paid off. In fact, the company received $1 million in seed funding this past month. "I always knew I wanted to be where I am now: I am hiring employees and creating a wonderful place to work."  by Amy Gallo

Weight loss theory.

Logic behind weight loss and weight gain
The simple reason why you lose or gain weight: your body’s ability to adapt. It’s smart - it’s a lot smarter than you think. Your body evolves to suit your daily needs and it assumes the shape you ask of it, though maybe not intentionally. The simple reality of it is: if you let your body think that it’s not required for it to move fast or carry heavy objects every single day it won’t grow muscles or shed the pounds to be able to perform better, easier and with less effort. That’s how it works to put it simply. 

So, if someone let’s say tries to lose weight fast and goes on a crush diet it shocks the system so that the moment that someone is off the calorie restrictions his or her body starts to stockpile and stockpile like mad. It’s a simple self-preservation response – you basically just let your body know that the “hard times” might return at some point and you need all that extra weight to see you through. That’s mainly the reason why you would always get your lost weight back and fast and probably gain extra. 

Conditions are vital when it comes to weight control and shaping your body. Put your body in the right conditions and that’ll force it to change the way you want to. That’s why you often hear that you must change your lifestyle in order to permanently change the way you look. It’s true enough. Sprinters have explosive, big muscles to put power into their runs and long distance runners have sleek bodies to carry them through serious distances as easily and as efficiently as possible. Body builders lift and get big muscles because they feed their bodies and force them to get used to heavier and heavier loads, while yogis spend years making their bodies bend every which way by forcing it to do it over and over again. You can always tell what your body is used to by just looking at someone, the way they walk and the way their body flows. Fit people tend to be in complete control of their bodies and very aware of themselves. Have you ever seen someone who has no idea where their body starts or ends? It’s down to practice, practice and training. 

Once you are in the conditions that force your body into change be that dietary restrictions or harsh physical activity your body begins to learn the new rules. It takes time for it to see if it’s worth adjusting to the new routine or if it can maintain the shape it is now. There are several factors that play a role here. When someone starts to exercise, for example, they begin to feel hunger a lot stronger – this is how your body tries to compensate for the energy spent training and you end up eating more calories than you burn as a result. This kind of hunger isn’t real - it’s a side effect of burning the reserves you already have. And it’s actually a lot easier to eat more than you burned since we tend to over-estimate the numbers spent and under-estimate the amounts consumed – it happens to the best of us. 

Another factor that plays a role is time. It takes time for your body to see if it can just wait it out and hold on to whatever weight reserves you have on you. It often happens to people who tend to drop in and out of training. The experience of being challenged and being under physical stress stays in the body’s memory for a while after that. That’s why you can see fast results when you try something new and then nada when you try this same thing again, later. 

Routine is something your body falls into and it does it fast, too. It’s a master of adaptation, an artist in its own right. Imagine, that you do the same old thing over and over again with the same intensity and the same calorie intake and suddenly things stop moving forward – you hit a plateau. What happened again? Yep, the bloody thing adjusted to the lifestyle and now it has optimized itself to continue going at the set pace for as long as it takes. To break free of this the best thing to do is to shake things up, let it know that routine can be broken and other things will be demanded of it any moment. That’s why it also helps to keep your training sessions fresh and mixed in intensity if it’s the change you want to see in yourself. 

When you create an active environment for yourself where you might be expected to run, jump and do push-ups you force your body to be ready for it, any time. You force it to change shape to suit this kind of environment – it’s a simple enough logic. If you do something for a while – you’ll see results fast but then, you’ll also lose them after going back to your old lifestyle. And then every other time you do the same thing over and over again you’ll see less and less out of it. Every now and then shocking your body is good but if you let it be afraid of starvation, for example, it’ll hold on to the every last bite and stockpile, stockpile, stockpile. 

And yet, it’s also all down to your lifestyle. Eventually your body learns what’s what and behaves accordingly. If you train one or two days a week you can probably do some good but it won’t make you change. It’s when not-training is something out of the ordinary that your body really starts adjusting and changing shape. It’s smart and it should be treated as such. Of course it doesn’t want to be put under pressure – the ideal conditions for it is to sit on pile of food and not move – because, who knows when you’ll need all these reserves. Yet, it needs to move in order to stay healthy – it’s happiest when it moves, actually. Your whole body begins to work like a well-oiled mechanism at any hour of the day if you give it what it needs, not what it wants. 

Our bodies are a reflection of our lifestyles, basically. They don’t exactly have a mind of their own but they may just as well have and that’s why they must be controlled and looked after. Exercising just to tick the box, cheating half the time won’t do you any good, but waste your precious time. Think about it this way: is it making me uncomfortable enough to make my body adapt? If the answer is yes, you’ll see results. If you keep it up long enough these results will become permanent. -- Neila Ray.

If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers.

The Berlin Study

In the early 1990s, a trio of psychologists descended on the Universität der Künste, a historic arts academy in the heart of West Berlin. They came to study the violinists.

As described in their subsequent publication in Psychological Review, the researchers asked the academy’s music professors to help them identify a set of stand out violin players — the students who the professors believed would go onto careers as professional performers.

We’ll call this group the elite players.

For a point of comparison, they also selected a group of students from the school’s education department. These were students who were on track to become music teachers. They were serious about violin, but as their professors explained, their ability was not in the same league as the first group.

We’ll call this group the average players.

The three researchers subjected their subjects to a series of in-depth interviews. They then gave them diaries which divided each 24-hour period into 50 minute chunks, and sent them home to keep a careful log of how they spent their time.

Flush with data, the researchers went to work trying to answer a fundamental question:Why are the elite players better than the average players?

The obvious guess is that the elite players are more dedicated to their craft. That is, they’re willing to put in the long,Tiger Mom-style hours required to get good, while the average players are off goofing around and enjoying life.

The data, as it turns out, had a different story to tell…

Decoding the Patterns of the Elite

We can start by disproving the assumption that the elite players dedicate more hours to music. The time diaries revealed that both groups spent, on average, the same number of hours on music per week (around 50).

The difference was in how they spent this time. The elite players were spending almost three times more hours than the average players on deliberate practice — the uncomfortable, methodical work of stretching your ability.

This might not be surprising, as the importance of deliberate practice had been replicated and reported many times (c.f., Gladwell).

But the researchers weren’t done.

They also studied how the students scheduled their work. The average players, they discovered, spread their work throughout the day. A graph included in the paper, which shows the average time spent working versus the waking hours of the day, is essentially flat.

The elite players, by contrast, consolidated their work into two well-defined periods.When you plot the average time spent working versus the hours of the day for these players, there are two prominent peaks: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

In fact, the more elite the player, the more pronounced the peaks. For the best of the best — the subset of the elites who the professors thought would go on to play in one of Germany’s two best professional orchestras — there was essentially no deviation from a rigid two-sessions a day schedule.

This isolation of work from leisure had pronounced effects in other areas of the players’ lives.

Consider, for example, sleep: the elite players slept an hour more per night than the average players.

Also consider relaxation. The researchers asked the players to estimate how much time they dedicated each week to leisure activities — an important indicator of their subjective feeling of relaxation. By this metric, the elite players were significantly more relaxed than the average players, and the best of the best were the most relaxed of all.

Hard Work is Different than Hard to Do Work

To summarize these results:

• The average players are working just as many hours as the elite players (around 50 hours a week spent on music),
• but they’re not dedicating these hours to the right type of work (spending almost 3 times less hours than the elites on crucial deliberate practice),
• and furthermore, they spread this work haphazardly throughout the day. So even though they’re not doing more work than the elite players, they end up sleeping less and feeling more stressed. Not to mention that they remain worse at the violin.

I’ve seen this same phenomenon time and again in my study of high achievers. It came up so often in my study of top students, for example, that I even coined a name for it: the paradox of the relaxed Rhodes Scholar.

This study sheds some light on this paradox. It provides empirical evidence that there’s a difference between hard work and hard to do work:

• Hard work is deliberate practice. It’s not fun while you’re doing it, but you don’t have to do too much of it in any one day (the elite players spent, on average, 3.5 hours per day engaged in deliberate practice, broken into two sessions). It also provides you measurable progress in a skill, which generates a strong sense of contentment and motivation. Therefore, although hard work is hard, it’s not draining and it can fit nicely into a relaxed and enjoyable day.
• Hard to do work, by contrast, is draining. It has you running around all day in a state of false busyness that leaves you, like the average players from the Berlin study, feeling tired and stressed. It also, as we just learned, has very little to do with real accomplishment.

This analysis leads to an important conclusion. Whether you’re a student or well along in your career, if your goal is to build a remarkable life, then busyness and exhaustion should be your enemy. If you’re chronically stressed and up late working, you’re doing something wrong. You’re the average players from the Universität der Künste — not the elite. You’ve built a life around hard to do work, not hard work.

The solution suggested by this research, as well as my own, is as simple as it is startling: Do less. But do what you do with complete and hard focus. Then when you’re done be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day. by Cal Newport.

60 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE ACCEPTING THAT JOB OFFER

What should I be looking for in a job?

The most important thing for job satisfaction, contrary to popular belief, is not salary but engagement. Research shows that salary and benefits are less important for job satisfaction than how much you feel you belong, are valued, and are contributing.

To work out whether you’ll get that out of a new job, try to find out about the opportunities there will be for you to learn and grow, Kamens advises. Will the work challenge you? Are there resources in place to help you cope with the pressures and maintain a good work-life balance – what support is available?

You should also pay close attention to the working environment. Can you see yourself there; do you fit in? And what about the values or the organization? Are they similar to your own?

To answer these questions you need to know yourself and what suits your style, so take some time to consider that before setting out to gather this information.

How big is it?

Size matters, says Kamens. Find out how big the lab or company is and whether it has grown over time. If not, why not (it’s not necessarily a bad thing if it has stayed that size on purpose, but it could be a sign that it’s a stagnant workplace)? For lab jobs in particular, ask whether there are enough projects to go around. What will your initial responsibilities be and how fast can you get your own projects? If you are good at asking for help then a big company might be fine for you, but others may feel lost in that environment. Do you come from a big family? Does hustle and bustle make you edgy? Visit the place and ask yourself how it feels to you.

How competitive is the workplace?

Many workplaces, and labs in particular, tend to fall into one of two categories – ‘dog eat dog’ vs ‘team attitude’. There are ways to tell which one your potential new workplace falls into. In collaborative labs, for instance, papers have multiple authors, whereas in highly competitive labs it will probably just be the PI and one other who publish each paper. Ask yourself whether you like and thrive on competition. Some people do, but you need to accept whether that will make you happy before entering that kind of environment.

Who will be my real boss?

This will depend on the size of the lab or company. Find out who will manage you in the day-to-day. Will it be the person who is hiring you or, say, a post-doc? Ask whether there is a chance your hiring manager will be moving on soon. For a lab, is the advisor really around serving as a mentor? Do you care? Ask the graduate students and the post-docs there whether they meet one-on-one with the lab head, and how often these meetings take place.

Do I want this person as my mentor?

This question is most important if you are looking for a position in a training lab. Once you know who will be leading the group, you need to find out whether they are going to be teaching you the kind of stuff you really need to know to move your career forwards. What’s their involvement in the rest of the department? How good are they at getting funding? Can they deal with conflict in their lab? Do they motivate their group with encouragement or criticism?

Kamens stresses that if you are a grad student or a post-doc, you are going to be working at the mercy of this person for very little money for a protracted period of time. You are supposed to be learning the skills you need to be a good scientist and how to run a lab well. So there really is no need to “work for a jerk”, she says. When it comes to a job, it’s a different story, and you may indeed have less choice in the kind of person you have to put up with as your boss.

Trying to find out all this information about the person who is hiring you can be tricky, so when you have an interview in a lab, try and meet as many of the lab members as possible. Preferably, ask them for a coffee out of the lab where you can talk to them more openly. Ask them whether they respect the PI, whether they are learning from them, whether people in the lab socialise together? These sorts of questions will give you some good hints towards the truth.

Will I be expanding my skill set every day?

You have to care about this, especially as a post-doc or grad student, says Kamens. Half of projects fail, she says, so you need to know how many things you can work on, how many other things you will learn.

Another important question is: do people stay a very long time? Staying too long in post-doc position is bad news because it makes it look like you can’t execute, Kamens says, which is especially crucial if you want to move to industry. If grad students have been in the lab for 10 years and haven’t graduated, don’t go there. They are probably being kept on as cheap labour!

It’s easy to look up alumni, so see who used to be there and where they went on to. Network with people who have left, for instance by contacting them on LinkedIn – this is all data that will help you to make a good decision.

Can I transition to industry?

55% of scientists will leave academia, and if you are already thinking about a future step into industry, choose a lab that is open to both industry and academia. For instance, is the supervisor on boards for companies, or have they founded their own company? What is their connection with industry and how do they feel about it? Did ex-lab members go into industry or academia? Does the advisor support both paths? Is the work applicable to industry? And does the publication record show evidence of industry collaboration?

Are there any warning signs?

Look out for people speaking disrespectfully of each other or the supervisor. Also, be suspicious if you aren’t given the opportunity to speak to other employees by yourself, without a senior member there. Do people seem to be hiding their work and are they not upfront in discussing their findings?  Do you have a gut feeling that these people are putting on a fake-happy façade for an interview? If you answer yes to any of these questions, think twice.

What about the money?

Don’t be shy about asking whether you can get more money, moving expenses, conference funds, day care subsidy, extra teaching stipend, and so on. Also, don’t forget to ask whether the position is dependent on a grant application. Look around for clues as to what kind of work-life balance you can expect. Is there a culture of flexibility?

As you ask these questions and do your research, write a pros and cons list, Kamens suggests. Ask others for advice. And understand you have choices: you can always change your mind. --- Joanne Kamens

Getting a new job?, need a promotion? Be careful about your online persona.

Social networking sites are often advertised as a place where you can socialize with friends, family and acquaintances. Nobody ever thought they’d find purpose in background checks! But then more and more recruiters and employers are using these sites as a valuable tool when screening potential employees.

So if you’re currently looking for a job, seeking a promotion or jumping into a different career, then you may want to be wary of what your online profiles contain. Some of the things you post may seem harmless or even funny to you but without context, it can project a different image of you to a very calculatingrecruiter.

You may not be aware of it, but here are a few things that your online persona can say about you:

Sociable or Loner?

If you only have two friends on your Facebook account (i.e. your parents) then you may not be considered a good candidate in sales or marketing as this involves a lot of human interaction On the other hand, if you have a lot of followers or friends, you can be perceived as sociable. However, pictures of yourself hanging out with a biker gang or on unruly drunken night outs with your buddies may show that while you’re fun to be with, you may not exactly be the serious type.

Prim and Proper or All Out Wild?

Pictures and comments your friends post on your social page can either be constructive or harmful. You may have been aware that recruiters now look at social pages so you keep your wacky pictures or comments on the wraps but what if your friends aren’t aware of this? You could lose a potential interview spot if a friend comments about how you were running naked on the beach completely wasted.

Honest or Two-faced?

We all struggle to keep our thoughts and personal opinions to ourselves and put on a pleasant face. But if a recruiter took a quick peek into your Twitter posts and saw exactly what you think about sensitive issues (e.g. race, sexual orientation, creed/religion, color, etc.), would you still be complacent that you will get the job? Being honest is okay; being insensitive and crude is not.

Reasonably Emotional or Nothing but a Complainer?

It is perfectly understandable for everyone to be completely emotional about some things some times. But then complaining about every other thing all the time can send out an impression that you’re going to be such a pain to work with. Nobody wants to hire a complainer! Make sure your social pages don’t reflect this side of you.

Good or Bad?

Have you just managed to conjure such a winning masterpiece of a resume filled with all your greatness? Good for you if it gets you an interview. But then too bad if you have falsified some information on your social pages before in your employment, called in sick (when you weren’t), participated in an affair, or worse.

Bottom Line

Be careful of what you post out there. Be mindful of what your friends do too. Keep things or thoughts that you don’t want to reflect negatively on you in private. Don’t let your personal escapades ruin your career!  -- Jorgen Sundberg