Your Career in 2008 – Get a Fresh Start

As the New Year approaches, have you thought about your career goals? What worked to years ago in planning and managing your career will not work for your career development in the 21st Century. Managing your career in the 21st Century requires preparation, career goal planning and career guidance and ensuring that your time is directed meaningfully.

Here is how to find enjoyment and continue to progress in your career.

1. Determine if your present job is in line with who you are, what you value, and what you are good at. Are you really doing what you want to do? Being self-aware means you become clear about what you stand for and what you have to offer. When you know what you have to offer, you become more powerful and intentional in your work. Doing a good job is no longer good enough to guarantee your career will go well. You are your most important asset. Self-branding provides direction and clarity of purpose for how you work, not just what you do for a living.

2. Identify your job satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Find a way to do more of the tasks/projects that you enjoy.

3. Identify your accomplishments.

4. Take the time to build and maintain relationship with individuals who might impact your work. You will benefit personally and professionally from the time you invest in such relationships.

5. Determine and write down your vision for your professional life. What actions do you need to take that will get you there? Celebrate the steps you take daily to achieve your vision. You can create the life you want! Here are some ways you can do that:

* Keep work in perspective - remember how you left work on time in the summer?

* Manage your stress - identify what causes you stress and how it affects you.

* Take time out - close your door (if you have one), call forward your phone, turn off your e-mail, take a walk. Use this time "during your work day" to prepare for a big meeting, a presentation or work on a project.

* Delegate - are you spending too much time on the administrative process of your job and not utilizing your skills to benefit your long-term goals and your company's goals?

* Work/Play Balance - what did you enjoy doing during the summer that you want to continue (going to the movies, playing tennis, volunteering, spending time with your kids, seeing friends, etc.)? Put it on your schedule.

6. Be Bold! Don’t be afraid to take on some responsibilities in positions above you. Aim to always exceed expectations.

7. Manage your own time. Set boundaries. Learn to say "no" to non-essential use of your time.

8. Look for way to do things better, and more efficiently. Change a routine task - develop a new process. Instead of handling your e-mails as you get them, set aside specific times during the day to respond.

9. Be great at what you do. The knowledge and skill that create success in your current job will position you for your next move.

10.Be aware of roadblocks that can limit your potential to move upward.

11.Take on projects that will most likely benefit you.

12.Have passion for what you are doing and working toward. You will automatically put more effort into it. If you are not feeling passionate about your work ask yourself: is what you “should’ be doing interfering with what you want to be doing?

Remember! Your career must contribute to your life, not the other way around!

Copyright 2006, Cecile Peterkin. All rights reserved.

Cecile Peterkin is a Certified Career, Life Coach and Speaker. She is also author of The Career Athlete - The Elite guide for career success. Feeling stuck in middle management or in mid career? Kick your career into high gear! Sign up for the Career Guidance Bootcamp or the FR-EE Introduction teleclass now at http://www.CosmicCoachingCentre.com/introteleclass.html.

Weight Loss and Staying Motivated

Trying to lose weight has probably got to be the single most difficult thing in my life that I have tried to accomplish. Ask anyone else that has lost weight or tried to lose weight and I am sure that they will tell you the same thing. If it was easy, a larger percentage of people would be successful at it.

I think motivation is a major determining factor in how successful you are going to be at achieving your weight loss goals. If motivation is something that could be bought, we would all be rich and thin, but unfortunately it is something you have to work at. What works best for me is identifying certain things that make me feel like sticking to my plan and reaching my goals. Once I have identified these motivating factors; I surround myself with them and practice them.

The single thing that motivates me the most is success stories. When I say success stories, I mean people who have used a plan that is sensible. I tend to try to stay away from the to good to be true testimonials. You know the ones, I took this pill and lost 100 pounds in six months and you too can do the same or advertisements where they are talking about somebody’s weight loss and below it in tiny print are the words results not typical. If the results are not typical, what it means to me is it will not work that way for 95 percent of the people that try it.

The stories that motivate me are the ones where they lost 1 to 2 pounds a week and they did it with a tolerable, sensible diet and tolerable, regular exercise. When I say tolerable, I mean something you can live with, because if it is hard to live with you are not likely to stick with the plan for very long. People that have lost a lot of weight following a diet plan, that meets this criterion, are a lot more likely to keep the weight off.

I also tend to stay motivated if I do a lot of reading or research on subject matter that pertains to the task at hand. So, I spend a lot of time at the library and Barnes and Noble getting the latest information about things that are happening in the weight loss industry and learning about how the successful people reached their weight loss goal.

The other thing I have learned to do is avoid things that are going to cause me to feel overwhelmed. Nothing zaps my motivation quicker than feeling like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. If I can do things in an organized fashion 80 percent of the time, I will be able to stay on track and take the necessary steps to stay motivated to reach my weight loss goals.

The sooner you can identify the things in your life that make you feel good about your self, the better things are going to be for you. Surround yourself with positive things and you will find it easier to stay motivated not only in your weight loss journey, but also in other areas of your life.

Marjorie Salada is the owner of http://www.weightloss3000.com, a website that contains information on weight loss, exercise, weight loss surgery and living a healthy lifestyle.

Numerology's Nurture number; what you can grow and prosper

Want to know how you start things, which of your projects will grow and prosper? Numerology can tell you what kinds of task you nurture well, what projects you are good at tending. We just need to find out your Nurture number.

===> Calculating your Nurture Number

Your Nurture number comes from a specific branch of Numerology called Yantra or Magic Square numerology. It consist of constructing a Magic square using your birth date numbers, and then interpreting the values in the specific boxes in the square.

Your Nurture number is found by taking your birth month, and then subtracting (3), note that negative values are possible.

For example, actor Johnny Depp was born on June 9th, 1963; so his Nurture number would be calculated as follows:

Nurture number = (Birth month - 3) = (6 - 3) = (3)

The Nurture number values and their meanings are listed below.

===> Nurture Number (-2)

You use your strong intuition to hinder and sidetrack others in their plans. You are selfish when it comes to helping others succeed. For you, it's every man for himself.

===> Nurture Number (-1)

You hate starting things and watching them grow. You would rather buy an existing business and try to improve it than start from scratch. You are good at improving projects already started; but terrible at getting them underway.

===> Nurture Number (0)

You don't really care about starting things and watching them grow one way or the other. You don't mind starting projects, but you don't take any special joy from it.

===> Nurture Number (1)

You love starting things and watching them grow. You are more likely to start a business from scratch than to buy an existing one to develop. You are a better starter than a finisher of projects; but you really lavish your attention on projects in their early stages.

===> Nurture Number (2)

You use your strong intuition to help and support others in their plans. You are a caring sympathetic person who finds great joy in watching others succeed with your help.

===> Nurture Number (3)

You have a gift for inspiring other people with words. You are quite creative in starting your plans, and when pushed can develop your own plans and talents quite a bit.

===> Nurture Number (4)

You are willing to put in hard work for anything you really believe in. You have infinite patience for your plans, and are willing to wait years, if need be, to see your projects bear fruit.

===> Nurture Number (5)

You are a natural consultant; able to give good sound advice to people in all sorts of endeavors. Sadly, your own projects and ideas never seem to get developed. You need encouragement to start and nurture your own plans, and follow through on them.

===> Nurture Number (6)

You love supporting and nurturing friends and loved ones. You make a wonderful parent saving only a tendency to be over protective of your children. You like working on your creative hobbies and take great pleasure in charting your own progress.

===> Nurture Number (7)

You love a mental challenge. You're fascinated by seeing how different things work; learning their hidden secrets. When something interest you, you're able to work on it in stages; starting small, and then developing it into a major project.

===> Nurture Number (8)

You are a natural when it comes to nurturing a small business and growing it into a financial success. You love taking on tasks or endeavors that you judge will be money-makers, and nurturing them through the rough spots. You stick with them as long as that money-making potential remains.

===> Nurture Number (9)

You love nurturing and supporting any group of people with a noble cause or goal. Weather a club, support group, or a philanthropic organization, you're able to help raise the spirits and self-esteem of everyone around you.

Keith Abbott is the developer and owner of 'Numerology 4 You' where you can order your own Numerology reading including your personal Lucky Numbers. Visit him on the web today at http://www.numerology4you.com/