If you are like most of the general population, you spend a majority of your week in an office or some sort of work environment.  And almost certainly you’ve heard of some gossip at work, or even participated in gossip at work.  At work you’ve created great friendships and have lots of colleagues who you interact with on a daily basis.  No matter how you would like to avoid it or even if you enjoy it, gossip at work is a part of life.

Most career experts agree that avoiding gossip at work is a beneficial thing to do.   If you’re like many of us who spend most of our waking hours at the office, then you know that it’s important to establish good working relationships with your co-workers.   Along with having friends at work, naturally comes the gossip at work.  So what is the best way to enjoy the friendships, but not be actively in the gossip at work?

We offer some ideas.

1)      The first is to maintain a positive outlook and attitude at work.  Unfortunately, the most powerful gossip at work revolves around negativity.  The greatest leaders in the corporate world have always been recognized as positive, forward-looking thinkers who uplift those around them.

2)      The old saying, “What goes around, comes around,” is still true today.  If some gossip at work comes your way and you end up passing it along to others, be prepared for you to be the center if it all the next time through.

3)      Try to avoid hanging out with groups that are known to talk about others, especially in a negative aspect.

4)      If someone comes up and wants to share a secret about someone else at work, or wants to complain about someone and is asking for your help, be sensitive and let them know that it’s unfortunate they feel that way, or show that you’re not interested in listening to the secret they have to share.

5)      This tip is my favorite killer to gossip at work.  It’s the sharing of something off topic that also enlightens the listeners.  You would be amazed how powerful this can be.  Imagine the shift in thinking that would take place when you subtly make the gossipers recognize that their topics are not benefiting anyone.

Lastly, it’s important to note that no one is perfect, including you.  So as such, take note that spreading gossip at work is truly only a reflection of your inner you. Keeping that in mind, it becomes a lot easier to avoid and even stop gossip at work.

To Your Success!

First think of the essential relationships at work, those that are crucial to your success. These entail the interactions with co-workers and management. It’s important that these relationships at work be mutually rewarding.  This means that you give and are also willing to receive. Being willing to help out and go the extra mile, and at the same time being willing to ask for help from others.

Secondly, relationships at work should be fun.  I would take a self analysis and see if you are a naturally fun person, or if you really don’t enjoy being around people.  A simple question, “Are you happy at work?” should help to expose any potential reasons you’re not naturally fun during the work hours.  Having fun with your relationships at work can help to create long lasting friends and business associates, plus provide hidden opportunities for advancement.

Thirdly, the topic that most of you were thinking about is dating and how that affects relationships at work. Almost all of you know of co-workers who date each other.  We’ve all seen the joy and the disgust that can happen with co-workers who date each other.  My favorite is walking out of work and seeing the gossip discussion taking place about a couple and the things they are experiencing.

Unfortunately, dating relationships at work aren’t very private.  Most people love gossip at work and love to hear any new news about something different than their daily work responsibilities. So if there’s someone at work that you’re attracted to, and are hoping to make something happen with them, be prepared for the whole company to know what you’re doing!

Lastly, let’s talk about the relationships at work that are unbearable. It’s the individuals that you avoid, because they are difficult to work with.  Each business has employees that don’t get along with others for one reason or another. At the same time there are employees who are able to get along with everyone.  Usually, the ones that are happy at work are able to create beneficial relationships at work with just about everyone.

To conclude, all relationships at work can be rewarding and uplifting.  It all depends on how happy you are and your willingness to be of service to others!

To your success!

We all know what politics at work means…  It’s the mental, communicational, psychological, emotional, and sometimes unfair predetermined biases that exist at work.  Most of us only recognize it as a power beyond our control that we have to obey or else we may not enjoy our job, or even worse, lose it all together.

Here are examples of politics at work.  Having to deal with prejudices, not the “I can sue you type of prejudices,” but the I’ve known this guy longer than you and am friends with him, so he’ll get the promotion before you, type of politics at work.  Can you relate to something like this?

Imagine you’ve been employed for six months and see a new opening at work; a type of opening that would be a promotion for you.  You’re fully qualified for the position and submit your resume to the HR department.  Without surprise you get an interview with the department’s manager. You feel like you nail the interview, and you know who the other applicants are and that you are well more qualified than them.  But you don’t get the job, instead you get a big taste of politics at work, as the manager ends up hiring someone who plays basketball with them during the day, and even goes fishing with them on the weekend.  It sucks, doesn’t it.

So knowing that politics at work exists, what are you to do?  From my experience, there are two options.  First you submit to the game and become “fake” friends or buddies with everyone knowing that it’s the only option you have of progressing within the company.  This idea in and of itself isn’t a bad thing and many enjoy it.  But for the majority of humanity, it’s very difficult emotionally to do something that you don’t enjoy, especially faking a relationship with someone.

The other option is to be so good at what you do, that the company couldn’t afford to exist without you.  This requires almost as much work as “faking” at business/co-worker relationship with the management team.  But politics at work can only be answered by participating in one of these two options.

I would recommend the second, being so good at what you do, that politics in work can never affect you.  You become so valuable at work that no matter what anyone says, you have influence regarding the outcome of the business.  And surprisingly, this aspect leads you to naturally accomplish the first option mentioned above.

So when noticing politics at work, take a second and determine if you want to play the game.  If you want to succeed in the corporate world, you’ll have to play the politics at work game.  It’s up to you to determine which strategy you want to follow.  Either one brings results, but the second is the one with the longest term value and influence, which will make you champion in overcoming politics at work.

To your success in overcoming the politics at work!

It’s much more common for women to have extended interruptions during their career. The most common break is for raising children or elderly parents.  But like men who have career interruptions, women reentering the workforce face obstacles when searching for work.  This is largely due to the amount of time since the last job.

The most common obstacles in reentering the workforce include having a resume with a large gap in work involvement, lacking modern skills or education, and having to accept entry level positions within most organizations.

Women reentering the workforce should take good thought into the items listed on their resume.  A resume is the first image an employer has to determine if they want to schedule an interview with you or not. So obviously, having a huge gap in the time since your last job can be a major hurdle to overcome.

That doesn’t mean that women reentering the workforce face impossible odds.  You have gained many skills during your time off of work that can easily be listed on a resume.  The best title to give yourself is Consultant.  From there you would need to determine what kind of consultant work you’ve been doing.  Have you been teaching, encouraging, motivating, and assisting others?  If so, these are powerful qualities to list on a resume.

Now to the skills and education part of women reentering the workforce.  This part is the most laborious.  Most women have received some level of education, and each year there are more women college graduates.  The challenge is if you’ve gained work experience that’s related to your level of education.  Women reentering the workforce will need to do some sort of refresher regarding the skills and knowledge needed for the jobs they are applying for

First make a list of the prior jobs you’ve had.  Note the type of work involved and the daily duties you performed.  Be specific and creative.  You would be amazed how easily women reentering the workforce you can “beautify” the type of work previously performed so that it sounds impressive.  Next see if those aspects are relevant to the type of work you are applying for.  If not determine what is lacking.  Then see if there are local organizations or groups that offer training or refresher courses.  Sometimes you can even take a class or two at a local college and even get free financial aid for it.

The last part of women reentering the workforce is to be willing to accept and entry level position.  Most employers will hire people with little, recent work experience if they have fun, outgoing personalities. You would be amazed how employers are more eager to dedicate time to training skills versus having to worry about personality conflicts a potential new hire will bring to the work environment.  So the best tip for women reentering the workforce is to express their upbeat personalities and willingness to add value to the company. Your success rate will be exponentially higher by doing so.

To your success!

Most people think that it’s impossible to find high paying jobs that are only part time hours.  Well, you’d be amazed at how many high paying part time jobs exist these days.  Most high paying part time jobs do require some advanced training or education.  We list the top high paying part time jobs below.  Take a look and see if you are experienced for any of them.  If not think about gaining the necessary skill set to enjoy these types of jobs and pay.

Massage Therapist – Average pay $22/hour.  Ok this is probably one of the best part time jobs in the entire world, especially if you are single.  Imagine providing a genuine service that benefits people’s lives, and every now and then being able to massage very attractive people.  You do need to gain certification to be able to openly practice massage therapy.  Most states require that you get official certification.  But if you have a group of friends that you can turn into clients, it’s possible to get a good book of business without needing any certification.  Just make sure that you are actually good at massages.  No one will want to pay you for a lame massage.

Personal Trainer – Average pay $18/hour.  If you enjoy working out, and have proven to yourself and others that your workout strategies generate results, than why not share that knowledge and experience with others.  You can easily create a high paying part time job by helping others lose weight and become happier with their self image.  Be warned, to build a list of clients requires some good sales techniques and a genuine interest in the success of others.  Otherwise, you’ll only be having 1^st time appointments with no real long term clients.

Librarian – Average pay $17/hour.  Who would have thought that working in a library would actually be a high paying part time job well.  The trick to getting a good hourly wage at a library is to demonstrate a good line of experience and knowledge regarding a wide range of information.  Librarians like to read and most of them are smarter than the average person.  So expect a list of detailed in depth questions when applying for this position.

Private Tutor – Average pay $15/hour.  Actually the average pay for this high paying part time job can vary greatly.  It all depends on what you subjects you are tutoring.  If you are a specialist in a certain field of expertise you could even charge up to $150 an hour.  For example internet marketing tutors easily pull in over a $100 and hour.  Most tutoring though is geared towards children who are struggling in grade school.  Be prepared to demonstrate a list of successes you’ve gained with other students.

Substitute Teacher – Average Pay $13/hour.  This high paying part time job is probably one of the funnest.  Most substitute positions only require you to show up, and follow a lesson plan prepared by the instructor.  Most of the time, this entails putting a DVD in to the player and watching a movie, or taking the kids outside to due extracurricular activities.  Many substitute teachers find that they even have time to surf the web while the students are doing school work.

With a little bit of work you too can find plenty of high paying part time jobs.  Also, for the benefit of others, if you know of other high paying part time jobs, please leave a comment below.

To your success!

So finding high paying jobs during your college years can be a little challenging.  Most of the time you’ll find a high demand and a little supply for a good job. But there can be lots of options for work that not only provide some good cash but more importantly offer other benefits that support your college activities.  Below are some ideas to consider.

Desk Attendant: Many colleges allow students to monitor dorm buildings, acting as a front desk person who regulates those who enter the building.  Many times they are considered as security guards, but without the badge and the uniform.  The most work you do is making sure the correct people are entering the building.  This would only entail checking ID’s or having people sign a registry.  Most of the time you are free to do your homework or visit with new people and make friends.  Definitely and option to consider.

Resident Assistant: Being a resident assistant is similar to a desk attendant but has a lot more benefits.  The main responsibility is to assist other students in being happy and successful with their living arrangements.  You usually live in the same building and floor as the group of students your assigned to.  The main benefit is that your housing is usually free!  The only drawback is that you’re expected to be the one who enforces the rules of the building.  This can be challenging if your group of students enjoy partying and staying up late.  But the compensation can be worth it.  And if you’re smart you can enjoy both the partying and the regulation in a perfect balance.

Babysitter: Ok, to be honest, babysitting is still mostly a female job.  But guys, you’d be amazed how much money can be made by babysitting.  Especially if you get connected to high net worth families.  They will pay big bucks for responsible, trusting people to watch their kids while the parents are out partying or traveling.  The only challenge is finding these families.  It takes a network of friends and resources to get you in touch with big paying babysitting jobs.  But the research will be well worth it.  Imagine getting paid $20 and hour for hanging out with kids in a really nice place with all the amenities.

Library Assistant: Libraries are either completely boring or an awesome adventure.  It all depends on the type of individual you are.  Imagine being in a place that pays you money to meet both attractive and smart people.  Everyone in college has to go to the library during the semester.  Why not be in the center of it all.  The pay can also be pretty good depending on how you handle the interview and present you skills. Another benefit is that you have access to all the knowledge you would ever need to achieve the goals of you heart.

Computer Lab Technician:  Next to babysitting, being a computer lab technician may be the best paying college job available.  The only requirement is your experience.  Most kids out of high school these days have a simple knowledge of computers, but it’s the “computer geeks” that go to college and make good money while they learn additional skills that will make them super wealthy.  There will always be a need for computer technicians, and the really good ones can demand they be paid a certain amount of money.  It makes you want to think twice about sleeping through your high school college classes.

Internships: Ok, internships are either a financial bust or a gold mine.  It all depends on which company who work for and more importantly if they are located close to campus.  You would be amazed at the money potential available to those who have the right connections to businesses within their community.  Much of these secrets high paying internships are through knowing the right people.  But they can be had, if you want it bad enough.  I would recommend at least seeing what’s out there.

These are just a few ideas for landing a high paying college job.

To your success!

Taking time off is probably the most enjoyed activity at work.  Imagine: you’ve just submitted your vacation request and are now looking forward to your departure date.  For some reason, it seem like work is a little more enjoyable knowing that you’ll be taking time off soon.  It’s kind of the same feeling as working on Friday, looking forward to the weekend.

But would you believe that taking time off as become a stressful experience for many workers? A recent study showed that 71% of surveyed employees state that taking time off is a stressful experience, especially the first day of work after the vacation.  More and more employees feel huge apprehension about what they will face at work during those first few days back.

In fact, this worry often carries with them during the whole vacation.  The true essence of taking time off – fun, rest, peace, – is all smothered by the thoughts of returning to work overload.  Fears about reading thousands of emails, returning many voicemails, and getting caught up with other duties, seem to be too much to bear these days.

So when taking time off, how can you create an environment that is peaceful and in control, so that upon  returning , you feel completely at ease?  We share some key ideas that will make the taking time off process a breeze!

Even before taking time off, you’ll want to make sure you won’t be leaving any loose ends.  This means making sure all of your job duties will be covered while you are out.  Is there someone who will be doing your work for you while you are out?  If you oversee clients, who will be their main contact?  Also, who will take lead on answering the questions the employees you manage?

Questions like these will cause you to create a plan s so that everything will be covered while you are out.  Having a solid plan in place will make your vacation much more enjoyable as you won’t have any reason to worry about what is going on in the office.

Now, after taking time off, you’ll want to get back in to the groove as seamlessly as possible.  This is best accomplished through setting up some processes that within the first few hours of being back, you feel like you haven’t missed a thing.

To do this, you’ll want to have someone, ideally the person who handled your affairs while you were taking time off, give you a summary of the events that took place during your vacation. The summary only needs involve items that directly affect you in the near future.  All other remaining items can be relayed to you over the next few days.

From there sit down, take a deep breath and open your email.  If you’re like most, you’ll have lots of emails to filter through.  Begin by searching for names/emails that you know are important.  Get those taken care of and then move on to the next.  Set some goals as to how fast you will get caught up on your emails.  Make it a game and you’ll be amazed how fast it can happen.

Taking time off is a necessary event and a healthy part of keeping a balanced life.

It will lead to less stress, more dedication to work, and better success in your long-term career goals.

There are millions of people who are reentering the workforce each year without having any recent job experience to post on their resume.  For many, they feel like their hopes of finding a solid paying job will be limited due to their resume showing no recent work experience.  This shouldn’t be a reason to dismay.  Below we show some tips being used today by people just like you to get a new job, even after taking an extended break from the workplace.

The first step to reentering the workforce is to take an inventory on how current your skills are in comparison to the current job market, and those required by the potential employer.  Do you still have enough knowledge and skills to perform the job requirements?  Would you be considered in the same caliber of the others applying for this position?  Answering these questions will help you to recognize any needed refreshing of your prior skill sets.

For those within technological fields, it will be even more important to ensure that you are current on all software and techy language being used in the workplace today.  Other industries don’t advance as fast as technology related positions, but it can still be beneficial to review where your industry is going and what it’s current challenges and success’s are to date.

The second step to reentering the workforce is to ensure that you can “talk the talk” during your interview. The main question that will be asked will be related to you not being employed for some time.  Your answer to this question will be vital. I would recommend creating a memorized response that answers the question in a format that is truthful, but also shows a unique perspective on your career strategy.

For example, let’s say that you were laid off over a year ago and haven’t been able to find a job during that time.  Your career field is related to customer service or account management.  If asked what you have been doing for the last year you could say, “I’ve been researching customer services methods across multiple industries.”  This will be a true statement, as you are a consumer each and every day.  Shopping for groceries, seeing a movie, buying shoes, gasoline, and more all make you a valuable resource for customer service.  You’ve experienced from the consumer side what works and what doesn’t.

If you present this response with energy and excitement, you would be amazed how interested your interviewer will be to your comments.  They don’t hear things like that each day.  Now granted, you’ll want to quickly back this response up with your prior work experience, but what it does is help you bypass the dreaded question of “Why haven’t you been working for the past year?”

Once you’re hired and are officially reentering the workforce, make sure you slowly work back in to the daily grind of being at a job.  You’ll already feel pretty overwhelmed by being out of the house for 8-9 hours a day. And depending on the type of work, your body will also need to get used to the daily tasks.  Be sure to be open to change and willing to accommodate to the demands of others.  Reentering the workforce after a long break can create a sense of selfishness, as you’ve been doing what you want to do each hour of the day.  At work this all changes and it can be tough for many people.

Set simple goals for your first few weeks of work.  These goals should revolve around reentering the workforce with joy. Take pictures of your family with you or images of what you want to accomplish in life.  Many workers post their vision board, as a reminder that they are working for a purpose such as self reliance.

Reentering the workforce can be an easy adjustment.  Knowing the current tactics to achieving a smooth transition can be of great benefit to you.  Be sure to comment below on what you have experienced and how it could help out others.

To your success!

” We’ve learned in 10 years that happy people are more productive at work, learn more in school, get promoted more, are more creative and are liked more. ” – Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D.

Are you happy at work?

A means to making more money at work is to do a self analysis of your job enjoyment.  The goal here is to expose your actual interest and dedication to your work.  More often than not this can be determined by how happy you are during your work hours.  Here are some questions to ask.

Do I wake up in the morning dreading to go in to work?

At work do you count the minutes and only look forward to lunch break and heading home once work is done?

Do you enjoy attending meetings and working with others at work?

Are your weekends the only days you feel free?

When people ask you do to a task outside of your normal duties, do you feel vulnerable?

If you answered “No” to any of these questions, then it can be said that your work enjoyment needs to be looked at. Now granted, everyone does experience times at work where they wish they weren’t there, but if that feeling is a constant one each day, then something needs to change.

Why is this important?

The reason why it’s important to be happy at work is that your management and those around you naturally sense who is energetic and who isn’t.  It’s no secret who walks around work with a smile, and who doesn’t.  Being happy and energetic displays commitment, and encourages others to be around you.  Employers like hiring and paying for people they would enjoy being around.

What to do:

If you honestly feel happy at work then return to Make More Money At Work and move to step 3, but if work is a bore, then below are some ideas that can change your work enjoyment.

1)      Write down what you do enjoy about work.  At least come up with 5 things.  If you struggle to come up with some ideas, begin with writing what you dislike about work.  This will help to clear up what you do like, even if it’s very little.

Once you have a few points on what is enjoyable at work.  Make a goal to enjoy those more fully.  For example, let’s say you have a few friends at work, and that you all enjoy working together.  See what you can do to make that happen more often.  Could you set up some projects or other activities that keep you and your friends together as a group during the day?

Take that same principle and apply it to other enjoyable pieces of work, with the goal of extending that enjoying feeling even longer during the work hours.

2)      Now with those things that you don’t like, (if you haven’t made a list of these, do it now) make a goal to limit them somehow.  This may seem like an impossible task, but give it some thought.  What could you do to offset any tasks or activities that you completely drudge?  Is there anyone at work you could help you, or a process that you could create to get out of having to do the dismal, lackluster work?

Most of the challenges I found centers around people feeling bored at work.  If you feel that same, create some activities that challenges you and gives you a feeling of excitement.  Maybe the act itself of getting out of your disliked duties would be fun enough?  Give it a try.  Pretend you’re in the military and you’re creating a covert operation to achieve an impossible goal.  Have fun with it.  (Having fun is one of the main secrets to success.)

3)      Avoid negativity or those who complain a lot at work.  It’s interesting how influential a negative person can be on your daily enjoyment during work hours.  It may be a challenge to refrain from negative discussions and individuals who constantly complain, but give it your best effort. The reason being is that their complaining will create reason for you to complain too.  We naturally attract and become like those we spend our most time with, as you can well attest to if you are in a marriage, or a spousal relationship.

Make a list, only in your mind, as to who are the negative co-workers.  Even take note as to what they usually complain about.  See if you genuinely feel the same, or if you only participate with their negativity because the rest of your work group does the same. Great personal power will come from acknowledging the fact the complaining doesn’t create much good, it only creates more complaining.  So it really ends up being a waste of time and energy. Freeing up this activities will allow you the seek out more of what you enjoy doing, which will make you feel better during your work hours.

4)      On a similar subject, make friends with those who you look up to.  It may seem very awkward and out of place to start being near upbeat and positive co-workers, but you’ll be amazed how easy it becomes if you just take the first step.  They will be eager to share their outlook with you, which will cause you to thing twice about certain aspects of work.  They may even cause you to do a “180″ about your total work experience.  Make the effort to be close to the happy, smiling people at work.

5)      Ask for feedback regarding your work. We all enjoy receiving complements and being encourage to be “all we can be.”  These actions create an inner sense of determination to grow and develop into a greater person.  The feeling of achievement and success can only be determined by either your inner factors for success or by following an external factors for success.  We recommend by learning what the company views as success, especially for your daily role.  By know the necessary pieces to being great within your job, you will be able to set goals and processes to achieve them.  This will give you a sense of purpose each day at work.

These are just some ideas that have proven to work well, and that the highly paid implement each day.  Use them as needed.

“To me, there is only one form of human depravity – the man [or woman] without a purpose.” –Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged

Most employees view their jobs as work to pay bills.  Their mindset is primarily focused around obtaining a job that pays enough to covers expenses and provide a little extra cash for fun activities.  As such, there isn’t much interest in doing more than simply fulfilling the daily job duties.

In contrary, there are quite a few individuals at your place of employment who view their jobs with the mindset of the work being project-based, with an end goal to achieve.  With their management, they discuss the projects that they’d like to work on.  Once a project is finished, they review the results with their superiors and then discuss what projects could be worked on next.  This type of work behavior demonstrates commitment, dedication, and success.  As such your value to the company increases, and with that so does your pay.

Some examples of projects could include: improving team morale, raising client retention rates, improving productivity, increases sales totals, and more.  Even small personal projects can have the same impression to your management, such as: celebrating birthdays, cleaning up your workspace, can even create the same impact as revenue producing projects.


Once program project-based employees use to track their results is called S.M.A.R.T goals.  This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.  This format for goal setting helps you to clearly define your objective and to create the necessary steps towards its achievement.

Included below is a worksheet to use for setting some goals at your workplace.

Take a look and create a project that uses the S.M.A.R.T goal system.

Smart Goal Worksheet

Questions:

1)      What is a project?

2)      What does S.M.A.R.T. stand for?

Application:

1)      Create a SMART goal for your current job, or for a job you would like to obtain.  Follow the instructions in the link below

Create SMART Goals

2)      Share your SMART goal with your manager.

3)      Use the SMART system as a foundation for creating a mindset around obtaining long-term projects vs. just a job.

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.” Mark Victor Hansen