Achieve a Balanced Life, Simply

Achieve a Balanced Life, Simply

by | Feb 26, 2015 | Career

In a society that lives by the words, “never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today” and in which we are all just an email, phone call, or text message away from the work crisis of the hour, not to mention, in most cases having a virtual office at your disposal no matter where you are, it can be somewhat difficult to stop working and just live for a minute or two. However, experts agree: the compounding stress from the nonstop workday is damaging to overall well-being, and that maintaining a balance between work and personal life is integral for long-term success in and out of the office. Work-life balance looks different for every individual, but here are a few universal tips from health and career experts that can help you continue on the path toward fulfilling professional goals while carving out time for you and your loved ones.

Moderate perfectionist tendencies. The key to avoid burning out is to let go of perfectionism, says executive coach Marilyn Puder-York, PhD, who wrote The Office Survival Guide. Many of us develop perfectionist tendencies during higher education or our first jobs, however, “as life gets more expanded it’s very hard, both neurologically and psychologically, to keep that habit of perfection going,” Puder-York explains, adding that the healthier option is to strive not for perfection, but for excellence. Prioritize tasks and time according to what is necessary to accomplish your endgame, and stay focused on the overarching goal instead of the minute details.

Turn tech off. The ease of communication in this day and age has created expectations of constant accessibility, thereby allowing work to seep out of the actual workday and into time and space that should be dedicated to your personal life. “There are times when you should just shut your phone off and enjoy the moment,” says Robert Brooks, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and co-author of The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence and Personal Strength in Your Life. Brooks says that phone notifications interrupt your off time and inject an undercurrent of stress in your system. So don’t just silence the work phone, actually turn it off. And if that isn’t enough to stop you from checking it, leave it at home. Make quality time true quality time.

Make time for exercise. Even when we’re busy, we make time for the crucial things in life. We eat. We go to the bathroom. We sleep. And yet one of our most crucial needs – exercise – is often the first thing to go when our calendars fill up. Exercise is an effective stress reducer. It pumps feel-good endorphins through your body. It helps lift your mood and can even serve a one-two punch by also putting you in a meditative state, according to The Mayo Clinic. This doesn’t mean spending 2+ hours pumping iron. Even 20 to 30 minutes of walking has major payoffs and can be worked into the busiest of schedules. If the weather is nice, opt for walking or biking to work instead of driving. Take your dog on a walk or stroll through the park with a friend. Even taking the stairs instead of the elevator fits the bill.

Limit distractions. First, identify what’s most important in your life. This list will differ for everyone, so make sure it truly reflects your priorities, not someone else’s. Next, draw firm boundaries so you can devote quality time to these high-priority people and activities. For those sucked into social media or internet surfing while at work, try using productivity software like Freedom or RescueTime. And if you find your time being gobbled up by less constructive people, find ways to diplomatically limit these interactions by politely excusing yourself. Focus on the people and activities that reward you the most. To some, this may seem selfish. “But it isn’t selfish,” says psychotherapist Bryan Robinson. “It’s that whole airplane metaphor. If you have a child, you put the oxygen mask on yourself first, not on the child.” When it comes to being a good friend, spouse, parent or worker, “the better you are yourself, the better you are going to be in all those areas as well.”

Delegate. Sometimes we forget that help is literally just a phone call away. So, instead of trying to do it all, focus on activities you specialize in and value most. Delegate or outsource everything else. Delegating can be a win-win situation, says Stewart Freidman, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and author of Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life. Freidman recommends talking to the “key stakeholders” in different areas of your life, which could include employees or colleagues at work, a spouse or a partner in a community project. “Find out what you can do to let go in ways that benefit other people by giving them opportunities to grow,” he says. This will give them a chance to learn something new and free you up so you may devote attention to your higher priorities.

Start with baby steps. We’ve all been there: crash diets that fizzle out, New Year’s resolutions we forget by February. It’s the same with work-life balance when we take on too much too soon. Start small, find what approach works for you, then gain confidence from your successes in order to make more drastic changes that secure your own definition of work-life balance.

What strategies do you use to maintain a balanced life? Let us know here, or @gosirvo.

The Key to Motivation

The Key to Motivation

by | Feb 18, 2015 | Management

What drives behavior? Daniel Pink, authoritative career analyst, explores this question in his bestselling book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”, on which he based his illuminating Ted talk “The Puzzle of Motivation”. The highlights are…

“There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.”

Said by Daniel Pink, this statement points to the fact that, while scientific research has demonstrated that intrinsic motivators, such as the desire to learn and feel fulfilled in general, are much more powerful than their counterparts, the current business operating system is built around extrinsic motivators, rewarding top performers and ignoring the rest.

So, what does “science know”?

  • The carrot-and-stick motivation scheme typical in most organizations, in which performance is incentivized with rewards, usually monetary bonuses, leads to increased performance ONLY when the tasks involved require mechanical skills.
  • When the tasks involved require rudimentary cognitive skills, the carrot-and-stick scheme is not only ineffective, but also DETRIMENTAL, leading to poorer performance.
  • Humans have an “inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capabilities,” which comprises the ”third drive”– the joy of the task itself.

The conclusion: extrinsic factors, such as material rewards, do not carry enough motivational weight to increase job performance when critical and creative thinking are required. Instead, intrinsic factors that contribute to how much we enjoy our jobs, are what drives performance in these instances.

A novel approach

Based on the notion of the “third drive”, Pink suggests a revised motivation scheme focused on three intrinsic factors that are vital to feeling fulfilled in the workplace.

They are:

  • Autonomy: permit employees to direct their own work lives by providing a few freedoms such as how and when a project is completed. Give guidance, but avoid micromanaging, and focus on output rather than schedule.
  • Mastery: provide employees with opportunities to develop and improve skills in areas that interest them so that boredom is not a possibility. However, include clear goals and feedback in order to support this form of professional growth, and ease anxieties about the learning curve.
  • Purpose: allow employees to fulfill their natural desires to contribute to a greater cause by emphasizing the organization’s overarching goals, not just profit goals, and ensuring that each and every individual understands his or her role in accomplishing these goals.

And about the $$$: pay employees enough so that the issue of money is off of the table, and work is at the forefront.

At the heart of the issue: the drive to work hard stems from the opportunity for personal growth. Provide this to your employees instead of the proverbial carrot-and-stick, and top-notch job performance will be a given.

How do you or your business provide autonomy, mastery, and purpose, as well as other factors contributing to intrinsic motivation?

Let us know @gosirvo.

Do’s and Don’ts for Difficult Interview Questions

Do’s and Don’ts for Difficult Interview Questions

by | Feb 10, 2015 | Career

The interview is arguably the most important part of applying for a job. And the most difficult. Here are the do’s and don’ts for some of the tricky interview questions you may have to answer.

“Can you tell me a little about yourself?”

  • DON’T give your entire life story.
  • DON’T regurgitate what is on your resume.
  • DO give a brief history about prior training or experience.
  • DO share 2-3 specific accomplishments that relate to your professional career, and be concise.

“What was your experience like at your previous position?”

  • DON’T speak negatively about your previous employer/company.
  • DON’T just use a vague phrase as your answer, like ‘great learning experience’.
  • DO give specific examples of your experience that lead to successful outcomes or that relate to the position for which you are interviewing.
  • DO include how your previous position or company differ from that for which you are interviewing.

“What are your greatest professional strengths and weaknesses?”

  • DON’T answer based on what you think the interviewer wants to hear; for both strengths and weaknesses, be honest.
  • DON’T give generic answers like ‘I work too hard’ or ‘I’m a team player”.
  • DO provide a specific example of a situation in which your strength served you well.
  • DO explain what you are doing to overcome your weaknesses after you share what they are.

“Why are you interested in this position?”

  • DON’T only talk about what is in it for you, such as great perks, more money, etc.
  • DON’T solely focus on the past, and why you are leaving your current position.
  • DO discuss the company, and how you and your [insert trait here] will be a perfect fit.
  • DO talk about the company’s bottom line, the future, and how you can make it a bright one for yourself AND the company.

“What is your super power, spirit animal, etc.?”

  • DON’T just give your go-to answer. Employers will appreciate an answer tailored to the job, company, or industry as it shows a certain level of dedication.
  • DON’T hold back, as this question is supposed to break the ice and meant to showcase a bit of your personality.
  • DO think outside of the box, but still make sure it relates to the company’s ethos.
  • DO take pause, or use a filler such as ‘that is a great question…’, if you do not have an answer right away.

“Do you have any questions for us?”

  • DON’T SAY NO!
  • DON’T let yourself get caught without a question because it has already been discussed. Think of a few less-common questions just in case.
  • DO ask questions that show you have researched the position and company. Questions about ongoing projects are always a good go-to.
  • DO ask about relevant subjects. Asking if you can wear jeans to work is not relevant.

DOs for Any and All Questions

Be honest. Do your homework. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Do you have more do’s and don’ts for these questions? Or need do’s and don’ts for other tough interview questions? Let us know @gosirvo

Organizing the Brain in the ‘Age of Information Overload’

by | Feb 9, 2015 | Career

Have you ever opened too many programs on your computer, causing it to first slow down, then eventually freeze and crash? Well that is essentially what is happening to our brains when we ‘multitask’, according to Daniel Levitin, cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, and best-selling author. However, there are easy tricks to use in order to maintain productive in what Levitin refers to as the ‘age of information overload’.

The Multitasking Myth

According to cognitive psychologist and bestselling author Daniel Levitin, “multitasking is a myth”. What is actually occurring is “sequential tasking”, during which the brain rapidly shifts from one thing to the next every 3-5 seconds, only the transitions are so seamless that we are duped into believing we are truly thinking of multiple things at once. Levitin explains that engaging in sequential tasking, or attention-demanding tasks, depletes the brain of its fuel. In fact, every decision we make, big or small, requires the same amount of energy, meaning the fairly simple decision to have cereal for breakfast burns as much brain fuel as your carefully thought out investment choices.With the forever increasing amount of information available, and the fast paced lifestyle of this day and age, it’s no wonder so many of us struggle to remember where we put the car keys, or if we locked the front door. There is just too much to do, and constantly attempting to do everything at once drains our brains of the resources required to function at its optimal level.

All About Organization

In his newest book, “The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in an Age of Information Overload”, Daniel Levitin provides strategies to implement in everyday life that can help us use our brains more efficiently. Here are a few, as described by Levitin himself.

  • Write stuff down. “The number of things that you can keep track of at once is limited to about four. So, what experts recommend and what the neuroscience says, very strongly, is that if you can get stuff out of your brain and out there into the world — something called externalizing your memory — it frees up your brain to be uncluttered and to think about the things your really want to think about. You get all that stuff out of your brain and then you can concentrate on work and leisure activities more fully.”
  • Try to be more conscientious. “This comes from personality and individual differences psychology. Of the thousands of ways that humans differ from one another, turns out there’s this one cluster of traits called conscientiousness that predict a whole host of positive life outcomes, such as longevity over our health, life satisfaction…it predicts that you won’t end up in prison. And conscientiousness includes things like doing what you say you’ll do, being dependable, being organized.”
  • Dedicate certain spots to certain objects. “What a lot of people say is that they lose their car keys, house keys, they lose their reading glasses or their passport…We have exquisite place memory in a beautiful structure in the brain called the hippocampus. We share this with all mammals. It’s the part of the brain that tells a squirrel where it buried its nuts. So, we can exploit this. The problem is, if you put your keys down just anywhere in your apartment or your home, they can be just anywhere and your brain can’t keep track of it…So the trick is, you put a little hook by the front door, you have a decorative ball on a console table. That becomes the designated spot for your keys or your reading glasses and because you always put them there they’re always where you expect to find them.”
  • Don’t spend more time on a decision than it’s worth. “You’ve got something in your hand and there’s probably a perfect place for it in your home and you could spend a long time thinking about the perfect cubby hole or closet or drawer, but what you’re saying is, ‘I’m going to put it here in the family bookshelf because it’s not worth investing anymore time in and all these things that are linked together by some common thread all go there and everybody knows that they’re there.’”
  • Take breaks at work. “Many of us feel as though we are overloaded and overwhelmed by all the things that are happening and we can’t stop work for even five minutes or we’ll fall behind. There’s a mode of our brain that is responsible for most of our creativity. It’s called the default mode network, or the daydreaming mode. And it’s the part of your brain that effectively hits the reset button in your brain when you’ve gotten overstressed or you’ve run into a brick wall in your work. So, one of the biggest things we can do in the workplace is to give ourselves an opportunity to enter that daydreaming mode every couple of hours or so. You do that by reading literature, by listening to music, looking out the window. According to many studies, people who take regular breaks and even naps — 10 or 15 minute naps — have been more productive at the end of the day and more creative in their work, more than making up for the amount of time they take off.”

For more from Daniel Levitin, check out his google talk on youtube. And remember, Sirvo is here to help you manage your service industry-related needs.

Connect The Dots: Service Industry Stats and Facts

Connect The Dots: Service Industry Stats and Facts

by | Feb 2, 2015 | IndiNews

A few interesting facts and statistics about the service industry, some of which may be surprising, others validating, and possibly even eye-opening!

Sales

  • The service industry is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s GDP, 4 percent of which is contributed by restaurant sales alone.
  • In 2013, the service industry added $3.35 trillion to the national GDP.
  • Total industry sales for 2014 increased 4 percent as compared to 2013.
  • In fact, the service industry recorded the strongest sales volume on record in December 2014, as well as the eighth consecutive monthly increase, totalling $49.6 billion on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

Employment

  • The service industry is the world’s fastest growing industry, adding one new job every 2.5 seconds.
  • Job growth within the industry has outpaced U.S. national job growth for 15 years running.
  • In the last five years, the service industry has added 3 million jobs.
  • In total, the service industry is responsible for more than 25 percent of all private sector jobs within the U.S.

Opportunity

  • The majority of entry level restaurant employees receive a pay raise within the first 6 months of starting the job.
  • 9 out of every 10 restaurant managers, supervisors, and chefs started their careers in an entry level position within the service industry.
  • 8 out of every 10 restaurant owners, too.

Connect The Dots: The service industry is here to stay, so find your way in with Sirvo!