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How To Turn The Job You Hate Into Success You Can Live By

August 7, 2009 By 2 Comments

Let’s face it…we are in troubled times and many of us are in jobs we absolutely hate, but since it is a paycheck that pays the bills…we continue to show up day in and day out to sign up for more misery. Why do we wake up to the alarm every morning knowing that the day is going to bring more monotonous pain? Because we know eviction and debt is thousands of times worse than dealing with the annoyances we are putting up with on a daily basis. We would switch jobs to something more tolerable or something we actually enjoy, but in today’s economic conditions, there is high competition for a decreasing amount of openings. People just aren’t hiring! So with all of this stacked against us…what are we supposed to do in the search for professional freedom and happiness?

Your 2 Options as the Unsatisfied Employee

Like it or not…misery, frustration and outright unhappiness can all be incredible motivators. When faced with almost unthinkable conditions, you…as the employee, family member, leader, bread winner…have two distinct choices you can make with your available resources at the time.

  1. Bathe In Your Misery – This is an option. You can come home every day and bitch about how bad you have it. You can tell all of your friends and family how horrible your job is…how much worse it is getting and how you can’t do a thing about it because you are just an innocent victim in this situation. Feel sorry for me because my life is so terrible! You just wouldn’t understand! You continue this cycle everyday until you are finally throwing yourself into a depression because you see no end in sight to the madness. Your largest flaw in this line of thinking is that you are now letting others directly affect how you live your daily life and where you derive your happiness. These people that you bitch about on a daily basis are winning…and in a big way!
  2. Use Your Misery as a Motivator – Time to get off your ass and do something about it! That’s right…misery can be one of the greatest motivators to change. If you decide to treat your situation through a different outlook, you can come out on the other end happier than you have ever been, but it is going take some work and you can’t bitch your way through it.

How to Turn that Job You Hate Into Success

For those of you that picked #1 from above, you can stop reading this article right now and go bitch to someone about how bad you have it…the rest of this will not apply and you are going to tell me it is not possible if you read it anyway. Like I said in point #2, you can use your current unsatisfied outlook with your professional life as a gigantic motivator to get up and do something about it.

Every morning, when I wake up and start up my iPhone, I am greeted by a quote that gets me started during the day.

You never know how STRONG you are…until being strong is the ONLY choice you have.

During times like this, being strong is your only option for professional change. It is not like the olden days when you could just sneeze out a new job that paid, appreciated and thanked you more just for stopping by. Everyone is on harder times than usual so being strong and pushing through is your only option in the search of happiness. But how do I turn this strong motivation into professional happiness?

Right now is the time to start conditioning yourself into habits that will benefit you greatly in the long haul even if you do not see the direct benefit now (or it takes a lot more work than it will in the future).

  • Start Your Own Company – Sounds weird to start your own company during hard economic times, but truly successful business owners will tell you that troubled economic times can be the best time to start something of your own. Do you have that idea that you have been holding onto for forever but never acted on? Now is the time to try to get things going. You are going to spend countless hours during what used to be your off/down time outside of work growing your business, but when your little start-up takes over your full time income, you are able to drop that job you hate in favor of something you can call your own. You just have to be willing to put in that extra effort and give up a lot of your free time in the beginning. Your ability to adapt and change quickly will give you an advantage over competition that has more overhead and bills. Many of you that read this blog are interested, trying or already have setup online businesses that have the added benefit of low start-up costs. Now is the time for you to put forth the effort and get the grunt work done as you look forward to growth and success. If you can make money now…image the results when the economy shoots back…
  • Be Willing To Do What Others Are Not – Maybe owning your own business is not for you…that is ok…owning your own business is not for everyone. During times like this you need to use your unhappiness with your current work situation to be willing to do what others are not. Are you willing to walk into prospective businesses and hit them up face to face with a resume? Now…more than ever…is the time to actively market yourself to keep your resume from being just another white sheet in the massive stack. You need to find new and unique ways to make yourself more marketable and not rely on the conventional job searching techniques that…quite honestly…do not work anymore. You can not expect to throw your resume on Monster.com and get great offers.

As you go out and try to change the way you are doing things, you are creating habits and confidence that are going to help you tremendously in the future. It is times like these that true greatness is born from the ashes…you just have to be willing to step outside your comfort zone to try something new. You never know…it could lead to professional life happiness and satisfaction that you had never dreamed and it was all because you decided to use your misery as a motivator and not a crutch. Sitting around and complaining does no one any good…especially you!

“I Hate My Job” image by Adam Foster | Codefor

Filed Under: Economy, Generating Cash Tagged With: , , ,

The Key To Success and How To Be Successful

July 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

What is it that successful people know that you don’t? What makes it so that they can realize success and prosperity over and over again while you are just struggling to tread water in this unsure world?

There has to be some secret, something you don’t know, something that would break you into the life that you always dreamed of if you could just figure it out. If you could only tap into that greatness that those successful people found, then you too could walk out of the wreckage and grab the dreams that you have always had just one step out of reach.

The Key To Success

So what is this key to success that will catapult you forward? Today is your lucky day because I am going to reveal the secret to success so that you too can live the life that used to be only a dream. The key to being successful in life and in business is really two fold. Each of these aspects are mutually exclusive and require each other to realize positive results. There are people in this world that try to achieve new heights by only implementing one of these fantastic ideas, but they end up failing and fall into complacity with their lives as they stand that moment. To truly be successful…you need two very important traits…

  1. You must have the willingness to take calculated risk.
  2. You must never give up.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? If it is so simple…then why isn’t everyone successful? Let’s break it down a little bit further in our quest to live a better life.

The Willingness To Take Calculated Risk

At the start of every successful marriage, there was one thing that had to take place. One person in the relationship (normally the man) had to take the risk and ask…”will you marry me?” Now…hopefully he had a pretty good idea of what they answer would end up being before he asked, but it was still a calculated risk that he had to take in the pursuit of a happy family life.

We take calculated risks on a daily basis without even realizing it. Most of the time, the risk is relatively low as it has become a part of our daily routine. You take  a risk every time you get behind the wheel, eat fast food or even walk across the street. To be successful, you have to apply these same types of situations to your business decisions. Are you willing to invest money to see a large return? Are you will to start a business during a recession? Are you going to act on that idea that you have been holding onto for years? All of these are questions that require an action that is based upon an associated risk that returns a reward. Often times, the decisions that carry the largest amount of risk reap the largest rewards.

So why don’t more people take risks in their professional life? Fear. The fear of rejection, failure or losing the little bit they already have keeps individuals, like yourself, from stepping out and taking calculated risks. We find ourselves coming up with excuses for our current position in life stating it could always be worse. That statement is not false, but it also keeps us from achieving greatness by being content where we stand. When was the last time you took any risk?

You Can Never Give Up

99% of the time, people give up right before they achieve their goal. In business and in life, there are going to be barriers to your success. There are going to be people that don’t understand. There are going to be friends that down deep do not want you to succeed and they will put down your efforts in an attempt to keep the status quo. You are going to fail along the road to success more times than you succeed.

The Key to Success - Never Give UpBy learning from your mistakes, ignoring your negative influences and pushing forward, you can achieve your goals. Far too often, we let outside influences directly affect our actions instead of motivating us to work harder. Successful people learn on a daily basis and apply that knowledge to their next adventure. As you look towards the future, remember to never give up in your pursuits because you are the only one that can stand in your way. Your mind will play tricks on you as you start to believe others that are telling you it can’t be done. Just imagine if Thomas Edison gave up before that final attempt that brought light to the world. Truly successful people use their failures as motivation to do it better next time…not to quit…

As you go through life…

…analyzing your next move. Take a close look at past decisions and learn from those outcomes. What could you have done differently that would have yielded a different result? Did you need to take a little bit more risk? Did you give up right before you were about to make it? Use that new knowledge and apply it to the future. You never know…your next successful act could just be the one that makes it…

Key/Door Image by Engin Erdogan

Filed Under: Economy, Lifestyle Design, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

There are two types of people in this world

May 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In all my dealings with everything from corporate level executives and small time start-ups, I have seen two basic types of people in the business world. Each type is drastically different in how they effectively run their corner of the world and how they manage their time. Ironically, one side of the fence almost always succeeds while the other side almost always fails. What are these two drastically different people and why are their outcomes so different? There are two basic types of people in the world…the dreamers and the do’ers.

The Dreamer

The dreamer is full of fantastic ideas that are going to change the world…you’ll see. They are going to do it bigger and better than the competition rising them to the top of the heap in their quest to build, create or manage better than anyone could have ever imagined. They are on a quest to tell everyone they come in contact with their incredible ideas and watch as you listen in amazement and realize how genius they really are. While this dreamer has all intentions of setting the world on fire…they don’t. Many times, they do even get past step one in their quest to be the best.

Why do they fail? The dreamer fails at being successful because they never put these ideas into action. They are too busy convincing the world that their ideas are going to be successful through words instead of action. They lack the want or desire to put in the work to make their dreams become a reality. Often times, their ideas are too vague and lack the specifics to make sure the job gets done. This lack of specifics makes actions virtually impossible.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, Lifestyle Design, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

How Are You Going To Stand Out In 2009?

February 10, 2009 By 3 Comments
manImage by welshwitch36

2009 is going to go down in history as the year that standing out from the crowd was the most important asset that equaled success. With struggling world economy, workers are looking for new ways to express their worth to firms and themselves in search of the recession proof income stream. How are you going to make sure that you stand out amongst the many in 2009?

The Interviewee

With a flood of potential employees to the job market due to massive layoffs globally, it is more important than ever to make that interview, resume, cover letter stand out from the sea of potential hires. What in your background makes you a more valuable asset to a potential employer? What can you bring to the company that Joe Smith can not? These are questions you need to be asking yourself as you move forward through the process. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Economy Tagged With: , , , , ,

America's New President – Barack Obama

January 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

President Obama and President Bush

Yesterday was a historic day in United States history, Barack Obama officially became the first black President of the United States. All partisan politics aside, I do believe that this shows how far the American culture has come in a very short amount of time. Now…that said…I do not agree with most of President Obama’s politics.

  • I do not believe in raising taxes on corporate America. Anyone in corporate America or with any history in economics knows that by increasing taxes on “big business”, you increase the cost of living for every day American’s. To make up for the increased taxes, large corporations raise their prices and in turn…our retail prices increase. There are certain margins that large corporations have to hold to keep the doors open, and in the interest of their shareholders and employees…they will make sure this happens.
  • I do not believe in more government control. I do believe that we need the government for public services such as police, roads, education, etc., but the more the government tries to govern our daily lives and income, the more inefficient it becomes. It has already done such a great job no matter who was in office (sarcastic), do you really want this inefficient machine controlling even more of your lives? [Read more...]
Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , ,

Why Today's Blogs Are Nothing Like The Dot Com Bubble

January 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In the late 1990′s and early 2000′s, there was a huge phenomenon that swept the world. Huge amounts of investment capital was hitting little unknown ideas with the dreams of making it big online. These small companies banked on the fact that they would be able to turn huge profits in the future with enough money today. With interest rates at an all time low, venture capitalists were begging to get on board and make money hand over fist. In the early 2000′s, interest rates rose and the anticipated profits were never realized. “Dot Com” stocks plummeted and the short lived Dot Com era was over.

This is an over simplified summary of what happened over a 7 year period, but what is important to the story is that the investors were investing in air. Individuals and groups were throwing money at ideas that had little to no chance of actually making it big. It was the biggest gamble in recent business history. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , ,

How To Keep Your Job During A Recession

November 10, 2008 By 3 Comments

I heard a story from a friend today about the company they work for. As of tomorrow, there are going to be 40 employees laid off in a company of around 220. Now…while 40 employees may not sound like a lot, that is a large percentage of that companies work force. As times get tougher around the world…one question is on the minds of many workers…

How can I keep my job through these rough times?

I wish I could tell you that the answer was easy…but it isn’t. There are many factors that affect job security, and…in the end…you can still do everything right but still lose your employment. Here are some tips to help you stay at the forefront of the companies mind as a leader who can not be spared. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , ,