16 tips to get that dream job

If you're feeling a little stuck in your current job, or if you're looking for a new job, or if you haven't even had a job yet, then you might find some value in these tips on how to get your dream job. Have a look at Essential Tips For Getting That Dream Job where you can get all the information on these tips:

1. Talk to your contacts.

2. Make some new contacts.

3. Make your resume clean, simple and error free.

4. Read, study and practice How to win friends and influence people.

5. Do your homework on the company.

6. Do your homework on the interviewer.

7. Dress appropriately for the interview.

8. Be clean, and value your personal appearance.

9. Look the interviewer in the eye when you meet them.

10. Shake hands firmly (but not a death grip).

11. Cut the profanity and slang out of your language.

12. It's not about you, it's about them.

12. Get the interviewer's business card - or the card of everyone who interviews you.

14. If you can, note something positive about each interviewer on the back of their business card.

15. Close positively.

16. Send an emailed thank you after the interview.

Good luck!

10 tips to create a breakthrough in your working life

If you're just not getting anywhere at work then these 10 tips might help you out.

1. Refuse to accept conventional answers or comforting assumptions. If you want to develop then you need to sceptical of quick solutions without effort. They're usually 'band-aid solutions' that provide only temporary relief.

2. Take risks. Without risk there's no reward, so if you want the rewards, you've got to take the risks. What's the worst that can happen... you'll fail, right? Well, everyone fails at some point. You WILL fail at something, some time. So risk the failure so that you can get the reward? If you don't succeed, try again. The world loves someone who at least tries. The ones that don't, fade into obscurity, never having done what they really wanted to do.

3. Don't look for answers - look for questions. They help you discover more, and help you avoid getting comfortable. They inspire you to greatness.

4. Become a specialist in asking stupid questions. Lots of people are afraid of asking what they think is a stupid question, and they don't want to 'rock the boat'. As a result, however, they never get anywhere. If you can ask the questions that others can't, then you're going to discover what they never will - success.

5. Keep an open mind. You never know when an idea will come to you, or you'll meet someone with an opportunity that could change your life completely. Don't create boundaries by thinking you know what's good for you, and what you can ignore. Life doesn't throw neatly labelled opportunities at you, you have to look for them in the strangest places.

6. Be who you are. It's only the insecure that try to be like someone else. If you stick to your unique and authentic self, you're not going to stand out from the crowd. Learn from others, but don't try to be anything but the best you can be.

7. Make mistakes joyfully. The person who's afraid to make mistakes is the person who's afraid to do anything. You're not always going to get it right the first time, but if you never try, you'll never get it right at all. Learn to be happy, to experience joy, every time you make a mistake, because it's only helping you learn how to do it better, and eventually you will get it right.

8. Dare to let go. To become the best you an be it's important to let go of those things that you're holding on to, which are holding you back. Allow yourself to grow, to forgive the wrongs of your past, to break through your comfort zones. If you lack the courage to let go, you'll never make any breakthroughs. Don't hold on to your achievements. Let go of them and seek out new achievements. It's all part of the breakthrough cycle.

9. Ignore your inner critic. Your own negativity is your worst enemy. Listening to all those 'what if' statements won't help you achieve your breakthroughs. 'What if it goes wrong? What if I get embarrassed?' Anything that has a 'what if' attached is your inner critic trying to keep itself safe and avoid failure. But avoiding failure by listening to the 'what ifs' also avoids success.

Be successful. Achieve breakthroughs at work. Become the best you can be. You'll thank yourself for it!

Go to part 2.

Thanks to Lifehack.org.

Guide to personal finance

Many people don't know how to manage their finances, and they're in debt or just have no money, living from payday to payday. If this is you, then you could probably start changing your life for the better by managing your finances better. The young adult's guide to personal finance is a good place to start, especially if you're young, with plenty of tips that will help you. Some of my favourites include:

General tips
1. Maintain a budget to monitor how much and on what you're spending.
2. Pay yourself first.
5. Pay your bills on time!
8. Set financial goals for yourself.

Shop wisely
14. Compare prices to get the best value.
15. Cut and use coupons.
17. Avoid eating out all the time!

Monitor your money
22. Use cash instead of credit cards.
23. Get the best deal!
28. Never bounce checks.
30. Be selfish - never co-sign loans for other people.

Maintain your car
39. Drive safely.
40. Take care of your car.

The importance of insurance
45. You need health insurance.
46. Insure your home.

Making the most of your Education and Career
52. Know your worth.
53. Love your job.
54. Use all the benefits offered by your employer.

The art of investing
59. Invest your spare cash.
61. Plan for your retirement.

Everyone loves a few freebies
62. Get money that's owed to you.
65. Ask merchants for coupons and discounts.

Know your blog's readers

If you have a blog and you want to attract readers and keep them on your site, there's a few things you'll need to understand about blog readers. Here's 10 traits that are typical of blog readers. Understanding your readers will help you create a blog that attracts and keeps more of them.


1. They're always clicking, looking for something interesting. If they don't find it within 5 seconds, they're clicking somewhere else.

2. They don't like to be forced into doing things that they see no value in.

3. Their personalities are varied, and they don't fit into a common category of 'blog readers'. While they might enjoy reading blogs, they might also enjoy playing football, but that doesn't make them 'football players'.

4. Some of them are actually blog spammers. They're the ones that bring no value to your comments section, and are instead trying to advertise something. You don't need or want them, but they're there anyway.

5. They even have addictions. Maybe your blog could be something they can become addicted to... Finding out their favourite blogs can help you determine the content that they'll read more of.

6. They have to be hooked every time you write. Because they're always clicking (see #1) you have to keep their interest in every post. One post that's interesting doesn't make for an interesting blog, but if every post is, then you're going to have more readers hooked and addicted to each post.

7. They refuse to tolerate fakes. If you lose their trust, then you lose them. Be authentic with your posts.

8. They love lists, but not if they're unexplained or unresearched. Even if you get your lists from somewhere else, make sure you include an explanation of the list, maybe even a personal example of why the list is good for you and why you're sharing it. Make sure the list is worthwhile.

9. They have a voice too. Just like your blog is your voice, the comments they leave on your blog are their voice. Remember that they might know what they're talking about - since they do read a lot - and they might just be happy to correct you where you're wrong or mistaken on something. Listen to what they say, it'll only help you become better at what you're trying to do.

10. They'll be appreciative of your attempts to provide them value. If you show that you know what you're blogging about and the readers you're blogging for, they'll thank you for appreciating them, and hang around a bit more.


If you have any more tips of your own, please add them in a comment.

9 tips for financial improvement

There's a lot of things you can do to improve your financial situation that's just common sense, but so many people are too caught up in the drama of their lives that they're unable to see what the common sense solution might be. When something feels incredibly complicated, then they believe that only incredibly complicated solutions will fix the problem. It's just not true though.

What is true is that some of these tips for improving your situation will take discipline, and that's probably the hardest thing about them.

1. Always pay into savings first.
   There's a common acceptance that you should be saving 10% of your income. You should make this the first bill you pay from every pay check. Set up an autopayment from your bank that transfers 10% of your income into a savings account every time you get paid. Try to ensure that the savings account is a high interest account and that you can't wthdraw from it without at least 24 hours notice, to help break the cycle of impulse spending.
   
   
2. Control impulse spending.
   This is probably the biggest problem for most of us. Eating out, shopping, online purchases... Lots of small items added up equal a big problem. Start by analysing your bank statement over the past month. See where you're spending your money on eating out, etc, and start to limit your budget for those items.
   
   
3. Evaluate your expenses and work out where you can cut back. If you've been spending $10 a day buying lunches, maybe you can cut back by taking your lunch every second day. Start changing your habits. If, for example, you don't buy your lunch two times a week, that's a saving of over $1000 a year. That $20 a week could be put into a debt you have, which would make it go away that much quicker....
   
   
4. Eliminate debt.
   Credit cards, personal loans, hire purchases, or other debts... you need to get rid of them. The easiest way to do this is to list your debts with your smallest monthly payments at the top and work your way down to the largest monthly payment at the bottom of the list. Now look at the debt at the top. It might be $20 a month. Pay twice that amount! Instead of paying only $20 a month, pay $40. Pay even more if you can afford it. Once that debt is paid off and you have that extra $40 per month, put it towards the next debt on your list. Once that's paid off, put the total towards the next debt.... Before you know it, your snowballing monthly amount has paid off all your debts and you'll be debt free. Congratulations! This might take a few years, but your debts will be paid off much quicker with this method than with any other method. Instead of taking 10 years, it might take 5, and you can then use your newfound monthly wealth to invest in something that will improve your life rather than drain it.
   
   
5. Invest in your future.
   You might not think about retiring if you're young, but it's going to be important to you one day. The sooner you start investing in your retirement, the less you'll have to worry about it as you get older. The growth of your investments only increases over time, so the earlier you start, the more you'll have when you retire. Research your options, but do it now. The more time you waste, the less money you'll have, and you'll only be kicking yourself when you're old, unable to work, and have no money to support yourself with.
   
   
6. Keep your family secure.
   You need an emergency fund for... that's right, emergencies! This is separate from your savings account. Your emergency fund should be equal to at least 6 months worth of your wages. If you're unable to work, or you need the money for an emergency, it'll be there waiting for you to use, and your savings won't be impacted at all. If you have a spouse or other dependents, then you should ensure you have life insurance and a will, so that if something happens to you they - and your investments - will still be cared for. Do it today.
   
   
7. Pay bills immediately or by automatic payment through your bank.
   If you can get all the regular bills and expenses out of the way as soon as possible, then you'll have less on your mind to worry about. It also helps ensure your credit rating is secure, which is important when you want to invest more of your money. If you're late paying bills, then you become a potential risk to anyone that you approach for an investment loan. And you don't want that. Keep your bills paid!
   
   
8. Be on the lookout for opportunities to grow your net worth.
   Do whatever you can to increase your net worth, either by reducing your debt, increasing your savings, increasing your income, or increasing your investments. Or all of the above! Look for new ways to make money, or to increase the money that's available to you. Calculate your net worth each month and do what you can to make it grow. You'll feel great about it!
   
   
9. Read about making money.
   The more you can learn about how to make money and improve your life, the better off you're going to be. And don't wait until tomorrow. Start now. Educate yourself - you're the greatest investment of your life.

4 tips to keep your desk clean

If you're like me, then your desk is always cluttered with papers, bills, books and other miscellaneous items that you just haven't gotten around to dealing with yet. Some people call it 'organised chaos', 'cause it's certainly chaotic but at least you know where everything is, right?

But the problem is, you might know where things are, but how aware are you of the urgency some things have? If they're lying in a disorganised mess and you don't get around to looking at them for weeks, then you might miss the due date for a bill. Or you might miss the deadline for a project. Or you might miss the vet's appointment and your pet dog dies due to your neglect.

Sure, the last one's a bit of a stretch, but I'm sure you get my meaning. Sometimes you just need to keep on top of things, and leaving papers lying around for weeks or more is certainly not the right way to do it. So here's a few tips to help you get yourself organised.

1. Put everything on your desk into a single pile. Put it into an 'in tray', or in a big pile next to your desk. Make sure your desk is now spotless of all paperwork, etc.

2. Start dealing with each item in that pile. Now that you've got your life piled up into one big pile, start dealing with every item, one item at a time. Start at the top and work your way down. Don't change the order of them and don't put an item back. Do what needs to be done with that item, and then put it away somewhere. Your options are to trash it, delegate it, file it, do it, or put it onto a list to do later.

3. Do this every day. The end of the day is a good time, but it can also be good to start at the beginning of every day and keep the processes going throughout the day.

Once you've finished processing all of your items, your desk will be clean, your life will be organised, and you'll be on top of everything on a daily basis. No more unpaid bills, and no more unfinished projects, and your pet will still live! All of these are good things to aim for.

4. Your to-do list needs to be kept up to date. This is an important part of the process. Every item that can't be done immediately and gets put onto a to-do list needs to be done as soon as you're able to. Just like your desk and your in tray need to be kept clean, so does your to-do list. Those items which are on the to-do list also need to be in an 'action' tray, so that you know you have to action them. As you action them, cross them off the list.

Leaving things to do later is procrastination. Anything you put off is just going to pile up. Deal with them immediately, and take action.

It's going to take time to get yourself into the habit, but if you're sick of a messy desk and you want to get your life organised, you'll do it. It's only going to make things easier for you. And once you're used to your desk being clean and tidy, you won't want to break that habit.

7 tips to avoid pointless meetings

I'm sure you hate pointless meetings that just suck your time and your energy. Well, you can check out a few tips from the Instigator Blog to help you avoid them:

1. Make sure the meeting has a clear purpose.
2. Avoid suspense.
3. Document what's going on.
4. Avoid distractions.
5. Have an agenda.
6. Avoid regular meetings if there's no agenda.
7. Schedule something critical right after.
   
   

6 Rules for Effective Writing

In today's world, if you want to be understood and to have your ideas spread far and wide, using effective language is extremely important. George Orwell, author of '1984' and other works, had 5 rules for effective writing. If you follow these rules, you'll separate yourself from the multitude of others who use ineffective means of writing, and you'll stand out.

Visit Pick The Brain to get the information about each of these tips:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

These rules are easy to memorize but difficult to apply. Although I’ve edited this piece a dozen times I’m sure it contains imperfections. But trust me, it’s much better now than it was initially. The key is effort. Good writing matters, probably more than you think.

Getting your spouse to support your entrepreneurial dreams

Cubicle Nation has a great article on how to get your spouse on the same page as you when you want to develop a new business. The tips provide remedies to the following issues:

1. They don't understand your business idea because you haven't explained it in a way that makes sense to them.
2. They don't have enough information about your business to decide if it sounds viable or not, so they assume that it isn't.
3. They have deep fears about risk and money that don't have anything to do with you personally.
4. They think differently than you.
5. They have seen you start and stop many projects in the past and are not confident that you have the follow-through skills to pull off the marathon of entrepreneurship.
6. They don't know what the exit or backup plan is.
7. They are afraid you will leave them if you get too happy and successful.
8. They are bitter that you get to have fun while they are sacrificing as a corporate drone.

6 tips to avoid procrastination

I've been procrastinating a long time, in a multitude of different ways. It's usually based around having to do something I don't necessarily want to do. But if something greatly interests me, then I'm quick to get to it! We can't always do only the things we want to do, however. Often, we need to do the things that need doing. We need to stop procrastinating about them, and just do it.

Lifehack.org has a few tips on how you can break the procrastination habit, which I thought I'd use as a foundation to provide my own thoughts on it.

1. Do it now

Turn your habit into a 'do it now' habit instead of a more negative 'I'll get around to it' habit. This is something I've been working on myself. When I know something needs doing, do it immediately - where possible. It helps you avoid following the same patterns of doing it later. If you can, schedule everything you need to do, and do it when the reminder pops up.

2. Commit yourself

To help you change your habits, you really do have to be committed to changing them. Instead of saying to yourself, "I think I'll change tomorrow," or "I'd like to change but you can't teach old dogs new tricks," say instead "I WILL change! I WILL stop procrastinating, and I WILL start NOW!"

Then you have to write it down on paper. Write down the habits you want to change, and how you're going to change them. Write down the new habits that will replace the old ones.

Once you've written them down, commit to doing them for a month, no less. It takes a month of complete and absolute focus to change years of bad habits.

Finally, tell everyone you know that you're changing your habit. Make sure that it's not just you that you need to answer to, it's everyone else. When you are committing to changing something that everyone else knows about as well, it helps you stay motivated to achieving your goals. You don't want to look bad in the eyes of everyone you care about, do you?

3. Monitor your progress

Before you start your month of change, take a few days to monitor your current habit. See how you spend your time and how you engage in your procrastination. Write down those things that you decide to do instead of whatever you need to be doing. You can even keep a tally of how often they occur. Write down the activity and put a tick next to it. Becoming aware of how you engage in procrastination can help you eliminate or reduce those diversions from your life.

As you move forward with changing your habits, you can schedule your bad habits if you want to continue doing them, but make sure they come AFTER the good habit. For example, if you know there's something you need to do - at home or at work - but you get sidetracked by reading RSS feeds and blogs and you don't want to actually give that up, then schedule that in for a later part of the day, AFTER you've scheduled in your important tasks.

Prioritise your life and the activities within it, and do them when they need doing.

4. Practice. And keep practicing

Make sure you do your new habit - DO IT NOW. Don't make any exceptions. If you get into the habit of finding exceptions, then you're just continuing the procrastination. If you make mistakes, however, don't worry about it. Just keep doing it. You never get anything completely right the first times you do them. Practice makes you better at it.

5. Reward yourself

When you start out you should reward yourself for the successes you have, as these little rewards help inspire and motivate you and make it worthwhile to achieve your goals. Write down the rewards you'll give yourself when you get to a stage you're happy with. For example, you might treat yourself to a coffee in a cafe when you've completed your first task without allowing you to be distracted and you DO IT NOW. You might treat yourself to dinner out with a loved one when you've completed an entire week avoiding procrastination and you DO THINGS NOW. Make it fun and worthwhile for yourself.

6. Always think positive

When you start thinking negatively you're providing barriers to your own success. Positive thoughts are encouragements to your success. "I can do it just this time...." is a barrier. Don't let yourself be sidetracked by thoughts and doubts that take you away from you doing what you want to do. You CAN do it, you just have to be committed to doing it now, and letting nothing stop you.

The only way to change bad habits is to decide NOW that you are going to change, and let nothing stop you. Then you will avoid procrastination and achieve all the things that you want to achieve.

DO IT NOW.