Peak Pathway Magazine's Blog : career development forum

        1.  Smile.       2.  Surround yourself with positive people.        3.  Change the tone of your thoughts from negative to            positive.   4. Don't play the victim. You create your life—take responsibility.   5.Help someone.  6.Remember that no one is perfect and let yourself move forward.  7.Sing.  8.List five things that you are grateful for right now.  9.Read positive quotes.  Watch your thoughts, they become words.  Watch your words, they become actions.  Watch your actions, they become habits.   Watch your habits, they become your character.  Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. Happy positive thinking!         SOURCE: tinybuddha.com

Think about it: so many people are in jobs they hate because they haven’t found that one true passion. They are good at a few things so that’s what they do here and there, but they aren’t sure what that one big thing they want to do forever could be. Here is my message: stop doing shit you hate. Nail down your strengths so you can discover your passion. #1: What Are My Skills? Take the five to ten people that know you the best. Split them into two categories: people you connect with on a deep level of love, and people who you are close with, but maybe you’re a little different in lifestyle and personality. Then, ask one person from each category to honestly tell you what they think you’re best at, and what they think you’re worst at. “What are my skills and abilities, and what are my weaknesses?” I truly believe that collecting market research and creating an atmosphere that allows someone to be honest with you are the two big things here. When someone really loves...

Here are the main reasons why you should cultivate self-control in order to become successful. While confidence is important for effective leadership and communication, sometimes people rely too much on confidence and skimp on the hours they need to put in to develop what is called tacit knowledge. Self-Control Generates Tacit Knowledge Tacit knowledge is experience based knowledge which is somewhat intuitive. It is different than knowledge found in books and is a part of what the book ‘Outliers’ touches upon. To become an expert it is said you need to put in 10,000 hours of work on a subject. What we are talking about is time. When people are overconfident, they may feel they can put in as little effort as possible and still be successful. This can lead to a knowledge gap but it also delays the 10,000 hour milestone. When people replace self-control with self-confidence, they often miss some of the subtle nuances of the career path they are trying to master. What Is...

It can be easy to run through the maze of life without pausing to think of its meaning. Does what I’m doing matter? More importantly, does it matter to  me? Feeling that what you’re doing has a real purpose and meaning that matters to  you  can make a huge difference in your life. It makes getting up each day the most exciting thing in the world. You can’t wait to get started. Forget trying to force yourself to work hard, it becomes more important to remind yourself to take breaks to eat! But how can we cultivate a more meaningful life? The answer is usually complicated. It can depend on many factors. I’ve written down 10 ideas that I believe will help you find meaning in your life every day, so that you can’t wait to get up in the morning and see what the day will bring. 1. Know What’s Important Know what’s important  for you . Write down your top 5 things that you believe are the essence of how you want to live life. This can include things like ...

Teams That Get These Factors Right Experience Success You can significantly increase the chances of the teams that you join or oversee to make needed contributions. Given appropriate support and nurture, teams can succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Don't let anything hold you back as you help your teams succeed.  Teams have basic needs that must be acknowledged and fulfilled if you expect your teams to experience their greatest success. No team will succeed if these basics do not exist. Keys to Successful Teamwork These ten tips describe the environment that must occur within the team for successful teamwork to take place. Successful teamwork is the cornerstone for creating a functioning, contributing team. The team understands the goals and is committed to attaining them. This clear direction and agreement on mission and purpose is essential for effective teamwork. Team members must have an overall mission that is agreed upon and that pro...

1. Identify Your Ideal Client It’s easier to look for customers if you know the type of consumers you seek. Without a composite of your ideal customer, you probably wouldn’t know where to start looking. “Have a crystal clear picture in your head of exactly who you're targeting,” says OPEN Forum community member Nicole Beckett, president of Premier Content Source. “Think about what makes those types of people happy, sad, scared, relieved, and then think about how you can make their lives a little easier.” Narrow down the focus of your ideal client and avoid making broad target market statements, such as every woman, every man or all baby boomers. Few products appeal to that vast of a group of people, and overstating your market will prevent you from developing viable targeted strategies for attracting clients. 2. Discover Where Your Customer Lives With your targeted customers in mind, “identify those places where they are likely to be found (media, online, offl...

  It may be hard to believe when you’re facing a hot-fudge sundae or the prospect of sleeping in versus hitting the gym, but studies show that people with self-discipline are happier. People with a higher degree of self-control spend less time debating whether or not to indulge in behaviors that are detrimental to their health, and are able to make positive decisions more easily. They don’t let impulses or feelings dictate their choices. Instead, they make level-headed decisions. As a result, they tend to feel more satisfied with their lives. There are things you can do to learn self-discipline and gain the willpower to live a happier life. If you are looking to take control of your habits and choices, here are the eight most powerful things you can do to master self-discipline. 1. Know your weaknesses. We all have weaknesses. Whether they’re snacks like potato chips or chocolate chip cookies, or technology like Facebook or the l...

High-profile discrimination settlements have cost large corporations hundreds of millions of dollars. While your small business is unlikely to be forced to pay an amount that extreme, discrimination can still have a significant impact on the bottom line. The financial effects of discrimination go way beyond cash liabilities -- the impact on internal workforce productivity, your ability to retain and recruit staff, and even your perception among customers can all be negatively affected by discriminatory practices. Job Satisfaction and Motivation Discriminatory practices affect the job satisfaction of all employees -- not just those who are discriminated against. Promotions, bonuses and benefits should be awarded based upon the candidate's qualifications and performance on the job. If an employee consistently sees promotions being given on the basis of gender, race, age or other discriminatory factors, his drive to advance within the organization or perform to the ...

In business today, it’s vital that we as entrepreneurs keep up with what’s happening in the world around us. It can mean the difference between staying relevant and becoming obsolete! This is one of those things that many business owners feel like they don’t have time for, but I encourage you to view it as an investment in yourself and your business, and make the time. So, here are my 6 top reasons you should be staying current: 1. It’s important to become (or remain) an expert in your field.   If you are the face of your brand, or even if you sometimes represent your brand, you must be viewed as an expert. People want to know that the person behind their product or service knows what they’re talking about. They want to feel like you could answer any question you might have about your industry (even if they never ask). There is power in your authenticity! When you speak authentically and with authority, your market will listen. And the great thing a...

  When you manage a business, you are constantly making decisions—often under pressure.  How do you make the best possible decisions, knowing they will have an impact on your company's future? There are strategies you can use to avoid common pitfalls and hone your decision-making skills.  Making better, faster decisions will help you take advantage of business opportunities and avoid pitfalls. 1. Re-frame the problem Backing up is sometimes the best way to move forward. When you are presented with a problem, step back and think about its full context. Try to see the issue from as many perspectives as possible. That will help ensure you are not emphasizing one aspect and neglecting others. Begin by trying to think of at least 3 different ways of looking at the problem. 2. Make evidence-based decisions The aim of evidence-based management (EBM) is to use scientific evidence when making decisions, rather than simply trusting one's instincts.  L...

While working in an office environment, it’s crucial to adhere to the dress code. After all, the way colleagues and clients view you can help make or break your professional reputation. Dressing for work – if you don’t have a uniform, or work in a business casual environment – can often seem like a tedious and difficult chore, especially when performed five days a week, forty-odd weeks in a year. However, such an irksome routine of getting dressed in the morning can easily be mastered by following these ten tips. 1. Be prepared Planning your outfits the night before can help you avoid looking like you got dressed in the dark. This can also help to eliminate any stress that can arise in the likely event that your go-to pants are in the wash and you have to put together an award-winning outfit in five minutes or you’ll miss your bus. Planning ahead can also reduce the chances of you committing the number one fashion crime of wearing the same outfit twice. 2....

  If you have issues with overspending and you don't want to go bankrupt, these five tips can save you from going broke. Have you ever looked back at your bank account and wonder why you have little or no saving? It's high time you questioned yourself about your spending habits. Everybody likes to start each month with great intentions and spend according to a set plan but sometimes, we end up making mindless purchases that put holes in our pockets.  That is what overspending does to us. It leaves us broke with no saving plan. However, to stop this reckless spending habit, here are financial tips to help you control your spending. 1. Track your spending Preventing yourself from overspending requires you to know what you are spending your money on first before you determine how much you want to spend on an item. In doing this, you can download budgeting apps like Mint or Budget to monitor and control your expenses. 2. Set financial priorities When y...

Do people often remark on your attention detail, your knack for punctuality and your penchant to always get things done, “just right”? Perhaps it’s been going for as long as you can remember, or maybe it started once you became a mother – but whatever the case, do you find yourself obsessed with the tiny details of doing a task, sometimes so much that it causes you stress and anxiety? If so, you may be a perfectionist. While the term sounds harmless enough, women who struggle with perfectionism find it difficult to find joy in their everyday life because perfection slowly robs them of the contentment that comes from things being “good enough.” If you suspect that you may be a perfectionist, here are five ways to tell that it’s holding you back. You can’t celebrate your successes Picture this – You just threw a holiday party at your home for friends and family. Everyone keeps coming up to you telling you how amazing the event was for them. But with each bit of prai...

In a world full of demands, it is crucial that we stay true to ourselves. Life is full of people who come and go and will undoubtedly leave a mark on us. We might come across some who intimidate us and some who are hard to please. This doesn’t mean you should change yourself for their satisfaction, and here are 5 reasons why. It’s impossible to please everyone Perfection does not exist. It is important to avoid falling into this trap where you feel the need to live up to someone’s expectations. At the the end of the day, you’ll only be wearing yourself out by trying to make someone else happy, so don’t go robbing yourself of your own happiness. You will only be draining yourself of energy that can be used for something productive. Live by your own rules Don’t let the distaste of others influence you. It’s important for people to know the real you—there are people out there who will appreciate you just the way you are. Not everyone will like you, but the ones...

  Now is finally the time for all of us to start caring about things a lot less than we normally do. In fact, sometimes we take the world all on our shoulders, and instead of making it a better place, all we end up doing is creating a lot more stress for ourselves. Here are some helpful tips for living a more care-free life.  What Others Think We are all unique individuals. We all have our own different paths in life. In fact, focusing on what other people may think of us is something that is not a productive method of living. As a result, whenever you end up basing your decisions and life choices on the opinions of others, you end up living a life you are not proud of. Instead, making decisions based on your own personal desires and feelings is the only way you can live a happy and fulfilled life. Living life for yourself instead of living your life for others is really the only way to live. Past Mistakes  Everyone makes mistakes. It is act...

  Many of us don’t realize that we are degrading ourselves for so long. Some of us treat others way too better than we treat ourselves. We don’t appreciate ourselves. We definitely need to quit such habits to live a happier life. Some people think breaking habits is difficult, so here are few tips that you need to work on, right now. 1. Quit living the life someone else wants you to: Parent’s add burden to the life we live. Society adds weight to where you should be and when you ought to accomplish on the off chance that you let go of what every other person’s need of you and concentrate on what you need for yourself that is the initial phase in getting it. 2. Stop Having Unrealistic Expectations: Don’t expect too much from people. Don’t set standards for people. Don’t get disappoint if you lose something; instead of it, work hard as much as you can. Consider your talents and skills to achieve your goals. You can’t get fame overnight, you have to work day a...