Innovation Sparking Imagination With Field Trips

Innovation Sparking Imagination With Field Trips In my most recent Pluralsight course on innovation, one of my tips was to go on some kind of outing. The idea is that when you get out of your regular environment, and see different things and ideas and designs and solutions and even different problems, you can get out of a thinking rut. And hopefully, that brings some level of innovation to you. I experienced that on my five week trip to Europe, and a recent trip to Hawaii. But you dont have to go far to get out of a creative rut. If you always show at a certain grocery store, shake it up a little. I find that different stores do different things well differently. From design to colors to floor layout to signs to stocking to product to customer service to checkout innovation abounds all around us. Another inexpensive idea? Last summer we went camping for a week. I worked during the day at my office, but after work Id go to the campground to be with my family. Lucky for me (and my coworkers!) my office had showers :p In my email this morning I saw this: Now of course, this is an ad to get local business leaders to bring their teams to the aquarium for meetings. but theres something there! As a job seeker we can easily get into ruts. Same boring, unproductive thing, every day. Maybe what you need is a complete reset. Change things up. Work from a library or a coffee shop. Get out, change your attire, change the order of your schedule (do email at noon instead of at nine). If you want to check out my innovation course, get a 30 day pass from inside JibberJobber. Email me if you have questions. Innovation Sparking Imagination With Field Trips In my most recent Pluralsight course on innovation, one of my tips was to go on some kind of outing. The idea is that when you get out of your regular environment, and see different things and ideas and designs and solutions and even different problems, you can get out of a thinking rut. And hopefully, that brings some level of innovation to you. I experienced that on my five week trip to Europe, and a recent trip to Hawaii. But you dont have to go far to get out of a creative rut. If you always show at a certain grocery store, shake it up a little. I find that different stores do different things well differently. From design to colors to floor layout to signs to stocking to product to customer service to checkout innovation abounds all around us. Another inexpensive idea? Last summer we went camping for a week. I worked during the day at my office, but after work Id go to the campground to be with my family. Lucky for me (and my coworkers!) my office had showers :p In my email this morning I saw this: Now of course, this is an ad to get local business leaders to bring their teams to the aquarium for meetings. but theres something there! As a job seeker we can easily get into ruts. Same boring, unproductive thing, every day. Maybe what you need is a complete reset. Change things up. Work from a library or a coffee shop. Get out, change your attire, change the order of your schedule (do email at noon instead of at nine). If you want to check out my innovation course, get a 30 day pass from inside JibberJobber. Email me if you have questions.

How the Help to Buy Scheme Could Help You

How the Help to Buy Scheme Could Help You Your housing hopes and dreams If you’re in regular employment and have saved some money towards a mortgage deposit, in theory you should be in the perfect position to buy a house. Unfortunately, careless decisions from the financial industry, as well as a crisis in global banking, mean that this might not necessarily be the case. Your housing hopes and dreams Many working people have found it difficult or impossible to obtain a mortgage since the 2008-banking downfall. This includes those who can prove that they can satisfy current mortgage repayments, but don’t have sufficient funds saved for an inflated deposit. An article in the Daily Mail highlights some of these difficulties. Help is at hand, and the Government has introduced the Help to Buy scheme to redress this situation. The Money Advice Service clarifies the Government’s Help to Buy Scheme, which is aimed to help those who are financially secure, but can’t raise an astronomical 25% mortgage deposit. The Help to Buy Scheme By January of this year, the UK government website revealed that 750 current homeowners had participated in the Help to Buy Scheme. This number is growing. Essentially, this scheme has been set up to help those who can prove eligibility for a mortgage, but can’t muster the funds required by the current lending system to put down a deposit. All the home saver will have to find under the Help to Buy scheme is 5% of the house price, as a deposit, and the Government will underwrite the remaining 20% to the lender. The loan is between the Government and the bank/building society, and not the individual borrower. A Two Part Project The cornerstone of this particular government policy will subsidise the lender, which in turn will help the borrower, and allow them to buy a house up to the value of £600,000. The equity loan and the mortgage guarantee scheme are the main components of the Help to Buy legislation. Both will guarantee the lender, and mean that those trying to buy a house won’t have to find 25% of the asking price of a house as a deposit. The mortgage guarantee scheme covers both old and new houses; whereas, the equity loan scheme will help those that want to invest in a new build. Both parts of the scheme are designed to help first time buyers and those who already own property but need to find additional finance in order to secure their next house move. Help for all As long as you are looking for a house for your own occupation you cannot use the scheme for a buy to let project you are eligible to apply to your proposed lender for participation in the scheme. You will still have to fulfil all of the current mortgage criteria. At least you won’t have to find an additional 25% of the asking price in order to secure the house of your dreams.

4 Ways to Fit More Exercise Into Your (Already Busy) Life - Classy Career Girl

4 Ways to Fit More Exercise Into Your (Already Busy) Life Everyone knows that exercise is good for us. Just how good for us, however, can be quite staggering. Most people are aware that exercise makes us healthier, decreasing our odds of suffering from physical or mental illness. But exercise also reduces stress and anxiety, boosts our brain power and sharpens our memory, increases our creativity and productivity, and raises our self-confidence and happiness levels. So why don’t we do more of it? Fully 80% of us fail to meet the NHS exercise guidelines (150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week, as well as at least two sessions of strength exercises). 1 in 10 of us can’t even manage to walk continuously for more than five minutes each month. A common excuse is that exercise is simply too hard to fit into our increasingly busy lives. After all, if we only have a certain amount of leisure time, why wouldn’t we choose to spend it with our friends and family rather than sweating at the gym? It’s a fair point, but the solution is simple: combine exercise with other leisure activities, and get the best of both worlds. 4 Ways to Fit More Exercise Into Your (Already Busy) Life 1. Exercise + Learning Have a look at a treadmill or cross-trainer, and you’ll often find a little shelf on the machine perfect for a book, tablet or e-reader. Reading is a great way to make those long, slow cardio sessions fly by because when your brain is concentrating on a story, it forgets the pain in your legs! Of course, reading text isn’t practical if you’re moving fast or in lots of different directions, but that’s where audio books, podcasts, and TV shows come in. In general, it’s a good idea to pick something that you know you’ll enjoy in order to avoid losing the engagement effect, but if you’re a particularly high achiever there’s no reason you couldn’t use this technique to pick up a new skill like learning a language. Restricting a pleasurable activity like reading the next chapter of a great book or watching the next installment of your favorite TV show â€" to exercising days doesn’t just make working out seem less arduous â€" it means you’ll soon start looking forward to it! 2. Exercise + Socializing Spending time with loved ones is important. Luckily, chances are they need to exercise more too, giving you the perfect excuse to rope them into a joint activity. Find a class, sport or activity you all enjoy, and you’ll be making exercise time quality socializing time too. Another great option? Sign up for a fun run. With options from running in Sumo Suits to having paint blasted at you, it’s guaranteed giggles with a built-in support team. You can even raise money for a cause close to your hearts. Exercising is also a great way to expand your social life. After all, team sports require a team! Join up to your local club or class and you’ll undoubtedly meet loads of great new people. Who knows? Your new BFF could be waiting for you in spin class. [RELATED: 5 Ways to Fit Business Into a Busy Schedule] 3. Exercise + Holidaying Think holidays are just about lying on a beach? Think again. Activity holidays come in so many shapes and sizes that you’re sure to find one that suits you. Perhaps you’ll want to go to a yoga retreat in India, try windsurfing in the Caribbean or hike up to Everest Base Camp. Whatever you choose, you’re sure to challenge yourself, impress your friends and bring home some incredible stories. Even if you’re not ready to commit to a full activity holiday yet, at least try to add a bit of beach volleyball in with your tanning! Weekends and mini-breaks are also perfect times to get out and get active. From a gentle hike around the Lake District to a cycle through Amsterdam, the possibilities are endless. 4. Exercise + Working Working and exercising might sound like the single worst thing ever, but they can go together in a way that doesn’t leave you sobbing into your pillow. First up: your commute. For many of us, walking or cycling in is a real possibility. Contrary to popular wisdom, exercising gives us more energy, so getting active on your commute could get you set up for the work day. Team nights and retreats can also be an excuse for getting moving. While you might struggle to get the team buy-in on the local marathon, activities such as a fun and fast-paced escape room should put a smile on everyone’s face. Similarly, setting up a workplace football team (or any other sport you fancy) is a great way to get colleagues to bond while exercising. Exercise can also bolster your CV. Those charity fun runs make you seem conscientious, the team captainship like a natural leader. And exercise with the ‘cool factor’ (think surf camp in Bali) can pique employer’s interests and help you stand out from the crowd.  

How You Can Be a Jack of All Trades and Master of All

How You Can Be a Jack of All Trades and Master of All Does the following description sound like you? Enthusiastic with lots of diverse passions and interests Get fascinated with something new, every few days Come up with new, sparky ideas Like starting things, but not finishing them Have a bunch of tabs open on your web browser at any one time (what, just one webpage at a time?) Find the idea of choosing just one career scary, limiting and very stressful Sound like you? Read on. For people like the above, who love freedom, possibilities, variety, choosing a just one career may feel a little difficult. No, scrap that, career choice feels like a huge scary decision where you have to kill off all your other options to focus on just one. Death to possibilities? Argh! I know the above to be true because I am ‘one of you’. After spending too long wavering in indecision, blaming myself for not ‘fitting in’ to a corporate lifestyle, I spent time ‘crafting’ (not ‘finding’) a career that suits this variety-focussed, full-of-ideas, loving-possibilities outlook. Actually, crafting a career where those qualities are a real asset. The journey is not simple, but let me tell you, it is totally worth it. Three tips for what you can do if you want to do everything: 1) New mantra for the day: not making a decision is a decision: Do you think that refusing to make a decision between options means you are keeping your options open? Think again. If not making a decision means you stay at the same unsatisfied place you were in last year, then by refusing to choose a new way forward you have actively chosen to stay in your unsatisfied place, your present situation. Interesting… out of the millions of possibilities in the world, why would you choose the one that makes you so unhappy you are reading a career change blog? Just a thought. 2) Maybe you don’t have to choose just one thing: If you are the sort of person described above (think variety, possibility, options, change, starting-but-not-finishing…) then the idea of choosing just one career is scary. And for good reason! I’m personally hyperventilating at the thought of just one thing for the rest of my life. Ok, deep breath. People who are successful and satisfied in their careers have chosen a path that makes the most of their natural talents and way of seeing the world. If your natural talents and ‘way of being’ is in plurality, variety, change, then make sure you create an environment for yourself where these take centre stage, shine, and are an advantage for you. And that might mean crafting your own bespoke portfolio career. A Portfolio Career means doing several paid activities at the same time. It might involve working part time in an office, and tutoring kids in the afternoons. It could combine corporate consulting, with a cupcake baking business, freelance writing, and running guided walks. Or, as you may be guessing, whatever you want. This style of career gives you the opportunity to experiment with several types of work at the same time, and you can keep ‘editing’ your portfolio to get the mix that’s right for you. Importantly, a Portfolio career should not be seen as being in a ‘holding pattern’, doing several less-than-attractive jobs until you find your one true path. A good Portfolio is your true path â€" and you take responsibility for filling it with things that are right for you. Only take this route if you are definitely the sort of person described above. What’s the catch? Simple. No one will ‘hand’ you a portfolio career â€" you have to be creative to make one for yourself. Look at your skills and abilities. What have you been paid to do in the past? What skills do you have that you think you could be paid for? Can you spot any growing trend that you think you could tap into? Try some of these out. Look at various structures for your portfolio â€" do you want to be fully independent (freelance, working for yourself), or do you want a mix of regular part-time work? 3) Decide on your real criteria: Whether you want a single career or a portfolio, you need some way of deciding what to do. The secret to this is starting at the beginning. Forget ideas about deciding on what you might like based on your ‘interests’ and ‘things I am good at’. Let’s go back to the start. ‘Who am I?’ ‘What is most important to me?’ ‘What do I need to be happy?’ These basic questions are surprisingly difficult to answer for many people. A lot of my clients come to me after spending years tossing around ‘career options’ in their head. So we step back, and spend much time getting these basics sorted before even touching on careers. When you nail down what you really want and what is really important to you, making your choices often becomes much easier â€" you have a checklist you can use to eliminate some of your options on a genuine ‘me-level’. Related: How Will a Career Coach Help Your Job Search? Author: Marianne Cantwell is a  Free Range Human, and a career change expert. Be sure to follow her on Twitter  @FreeRangeHumans.  Image: Shutterstock.

How To Make Friends In Your New Workplace

How To Make Friends In Your New Workplace So, you have landed in a new job and it is the first day of your office. You will be excited in having new workmates, new boss and obviously, a new workplace. Several thoughts will be running in your mind about your first day. You will be hopeful that you will have the best job and office mates this time around. Nevertheless, in reality, you have a face a lot of paperwork on your first day and many of your office mates seem to ignore your presence.If the first impression of your office and the office mates is not good, it will have an emotional and physical impact on you. It will be frustrating not to have a friend at the office. Don’t lose your hope after this happens as it is usual for new joiners these days as it is well-known that people don’t have time for others these days.evalHowever, you should not be a lonely person sitting quietly at your desk. You can try out the below mentioned ways to make friends at your new workplace and I am sure that you will not fail if you try these properly.1. Reveal yourself to othersIf you feel that no one in the office is interacting with you, just ask yourself this one question: Am I the type of person I want to be friends with? Yeah, you can be a good person once people get to know your nature.In order to make this possible, you should reveal yourself to others. You must let them know that you are nice and approachable to others. You can do this by little gestures like greeting them in the morning, smiling at them when they see you and so on. You can find ways to interact with them and these little things will let them know how nice you are to them.2. Show others that you are interested in themOne mistake that you commit while making friends is by asking them questions that lead to an indecent conversation. You must ask open-minded questions to your officemates so that they feel that you are genuinely interested in them.Questions like “Where did you buy your shirt?” or “How did you enjoy your weekend?” will let them know that you are really interested in knowing about them. Always remember that being interested in other people will win you more friends than trying to grab their attention.3. Be the first person to initiateYou must show some guts in asking your friends out for coffee or lunch. It doesn’t have to be an unexpected invitation. You can ask them in a casual way. You will have a chance to bond with them for a long period of time and get to know them very closely.For example, if a new movie releases and if it’s a good one, you can ask your officemates to join you. This kind of initiative is actually very important in making new friends.4. Interaction on social mediaevalIf you turn out to be an introvert and if you are too nervous to try the above ones, then interaction on social media will help you out. You can add your workmates on Facebook or any other social media platform on which you can actually interact. The, you can start with casual talk and get to know them closel y.This is also a very good platform for getting close to your officemates and making good friends as they can share many matters which they cannot share with you in person. After chatting with them on social media, you will surely get the confidence to talk with them in person.

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Ill be the first to admit, that when I heard a while ago that Disney were planning to make a movie based on one of their Disney World rides, my first thought was MAN, thats going to suck. I would like to announce that I was way wrong: Pirates of the Carribbean: The curse of the black pearl is an excellent movie! Not only is this one of the best action movies of the year, with all the necessary ingredients (lots of action, excellent special effects and a few laughs along the way), it also has that special something that really catches me: An intelligent script, and excellent dialogue. And then theres Johnny Depp. I promise you, youve never seen a pirate like him. Every scene that hes in is interesting just because you can never quite figure him out and because hes wildly entertaining. Johnny Depp is one of the finest actors in Hollywood right now, and his performance takes this movie to a whole new level. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Writing the Perfect Profile Statement For a Resume

Writing the Perfect Profile Statement For a ResumeIf you're a student and you're applying for scholarships or grants, it's important to write the perfect profile statement for a resume. A good profile statement will not only help your chances of receiving a scholarship or grant, but it will also help you to demonstrate that you are worthy of such a support. Here are some tips on how to write the perfect profile statement for a resume.While the length of a resume is important, it should be well written, yet in a great length. A quick summary of your entire academic history and any past employment are a great way to stand out from the crowd. Be sure to include specific facts about your achievements, as well as your interests and personal background. Be sure to take the time to learn about the overall quality of scholarships or grants available to you as well. Knowing the requirements for eligibility will help you focus your efforts on certain programs.When choosing a program, be sure t o consider the online option, as it can be a great aid to getting your application approved. With some online courses, your information may not have to be mailed, which can help to speed up the process of getting your scholarship or grant money. Make sure to carefully review the information provided on your grant or scholarship as well.Writing a profile for a resume is easy if you know the right questions to ask. Your profile will be used by college and university personnel to help determine the applicant's likelihood of being successful in school. Be sure to learn as much as possible about the scholarship or grant that you are applying for before submitting your application. Be sure to mention all of your accomplishments, if applicable. Also, be sure to list any previous employment experience, and how it relates to your program of study.Writing a profile for a resume should begin with an explanation of why you want to receive the scholarship or grant. Learn as much as possible abou t the nature of the scholarship or grant you are applying for, as well as the overall funding and guidelines. Do not be afraid to use technical terms, as this will help you stand out from the crowd of other applicants. One of the most effective ways to stand out from the crowd is to emphasize your special skills, such as a love of learning or the passion of a project.Writing a profile for a resume should also include a discussion of why you are interested in a particular course of study. Remember, not all scholarships or grants are open to students who are involved in a specific field of study. In addition, consider the goals and benefits of the scholarship you are applying for, including any possible improvements it could make to your education. One of the most important aspects of writing a profile for a resume is to find the balance between what you want to get out of the program and what it could do for you.Making sure that you do not forget to include all of the details and cre dentials you need is an important part of writing a profile for a resume. Many college and university personnel do not review applications by email or fax. This makes it important to make sure that you do not miss anything in your application or to have an accurate record of your information for future reference.A profile statement for a resume is an important part of the application process. Though it may seem easy, writing a good one can make a big difference in your application. Make sure to use the tips above and the steps below to be certain you have a top-notch application.