Recently in Work-life balance Category

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We've now closed the door on 2008 and as promised here are a few more tips to ensure you achieve your goals for the year ahead ...

Look at what options are available to you to help you achieve your goal: Will you need to buy anything? Enrol anywhere? Get the details of something? Send away for information? Speak to someone about something? Could you enlist the help of someone? Do other people need to know? Are you going to have to do something which is very much out of your comfort zone? if so, what support will you need for that? Start thinking about it now since the answer could well be a lot closer than you may have thought ...

What do you need to do and by when? Is there anything you could be doing right now to set the wheels in motion? Have you considered where you need to be doing this and when ? What mini goals (journey goals) can you set yourself in order to keep track of your achievements? When will you know that you have achieved this? What will have happened? What will have changed? What will it look like to you? The power of visualisation is incredible ... picture yourself already there!

If it's not right or it's not working ... change it! A lot of people forget that the goals they set themselves are their goals so they can be changed at any time. When you are on the journey towards achieving something that is important to you, changes take place that can affect your focus and can cause you to change direction. That's absolutely fine. Go with what feels right for you but stay focused on your desired outcome ... regardless of any set backs.

Image courtesy of: Geekgirly

As we close the door on 2008 - "the year that was" ... it's a perfect opportunity to think carefully about your goals for 2009 ...

Here are the first two tips - and over the next few days The Oracle will reveal a few more!

Be very specific about the goal you want to achieve: If you are unsure exactly what your end goal is going to be, it will be difficult for you to know what steps you need to take in order to achieve it. Get as much detail as possible, if it is something you can feel and touch then you need to know what the texture feels like. If it has colours, then you want to be able to see those colours. The clearer your goal the stronger the desire to achieve it will be.

FACT- Your brain doesn't know the difference between imagination and reality - so the more you imagine achieving your goal whilst working towards it, the closer you will get to it.

Take a reality check: What's the current situation in relation to what you want to be, have, lose, gain, start, finish, achieve, or earn? If the difference between your end goal and your reality is too huge, you may want to make some changes in order to believe that your end goal is achievable to you. Ignore what everyone else says! If it is huge, break it down into manageable chunks (I like to call these "journey steps" ) and set dates for each part of what it is you want to achieve.

Remember ... put your dreams out there and never mind what other people say when you meet with temporary defeat. For they, perhaps do not know, that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success, as long as you stay focused.

HERE'S TO A SUCCESSFUL 2009!

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Many of us talk about how great it would be to have more flexibility in our work. Perhaps the ability to have a rostered day off every two weeks, to be able to work from home every now and then, or maybe even the option of getting into the office at midday and then working through till 8pm or 9pm - giving you a better work/life balance.

Aquent recently published its 2008-2009 Aquent Orange Book, the most comprehensive international salary survey for the marketing, communications and creative industries. One of the key findings in this report was that flexible work practices was the Number 1 retention strategy implemented by those businesses surveyed across Australia and New Zealand.

Clearly employers place a huge emphasis on flexible work practices, but what is the attitude of employees towards this relatively recent organisational phenomenon? I will try not to let the fact that I am actually writing this blog entry while working from home sway my personal opinion!

Have you ever stopped to think that being given more freedom in your working hours, or in general more flexibility at work could have an associated impact on your salary? Does being in the office less necessarily equate to a reduction in salary? Perhaps you'd look at flexibility somewhat differently if it did?

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Top journo and editorial freelancer, John Pinching shares his thoughts on a career as a freelancer following more than seven successful years working in temporary contracts ...

For the essence of freelancing look no further than the first syllable. If, already, you are struggling with this introduction, the syllable to which I refer is free. This, of course, indicates the sense you will have through not being a slave to any particular system, rather than what you will provide your services for.

There is a common misconception among the vast majority of people, that staying in one job endlessly, however much you may despise it, is somehow the honourable thing to do. Even for the most sceptical atheist there is an almost religious belief that slogging away thanklessly, repeatedly and, often depressingly, at the same company, earns the respect of a higher force - a faceless career God who assesses your CV on judgement day!

This, dear reader, is anachronistic propaganda, which, for many - too many - has been a professional rule to which one must subscribe. Of course it is complete and utter nonsense. The days of completing 40 years at the same establishment is largely a thing of the past. If it's a carriage clock* you aspire to, there are plenty at your local department store. In any case I have always found these items to be less than ornate.

Having addressed a few reasons why escaping 'security' might not be a bad idea, it may be wise to return to the subject of freelancing, or contracting, as it is otherwise known.

For the feint-hearted it is not.

In this profession you will be widely regarded - particularly by your parents - as not having a job at all. Prepare yourself for world-weary glances from your immediate family during 'rest' times. Rest assured, however, that we are in the company of actors and musicians during these enforced holidays - this is the entertainment profession after all!

When you find work it makes it all worthwhile and, because of the nature of freelancing, you will experience an enormous feeling of wellbeing several times a year.

Starting an assignment can be an interesting experience. Indeed, I prefer to file this under 'character building'. We all know what it's like when you start a job - those rather awkward introductions, during which you are forced to assume a fixed grin. Well, you'll have the pleasure of this activity many times. This, I can assure you, is much better than having to maintain non existent 'friendships' for the best part of four decades!

There will also, during these early exchanges, be an assumption that you know exactly how an IT system works and where all the appropriate files are kept. The fact that some regular staff recoil in shock when you don't know these company secrets remains a mystery. I can only advise that you remain philosophical about such behaviour.

Once settled and you have committed one or two of your colleagues names to memory (even if it's just the first letter) you will feel able to embark on your new responsibilities with gusto.

* A typical gift and permanent reminder of a member of staff having completed an inordinate amount of time in the same place.

Blog entry thanks to: John Pinching
Image 1: Photo of top journo and editorial freelancer John Pinching
Image 2 courtesy of: teain.mycup

I was recently reading an article published on BtoB online talking about the surge in the use of temporary staff and contractors within both the marketing sector and media industry in the United States. The idea of contracting or working as a temp or freelancer can have many different implications depending on where you are in the world. The article primarily talks about companies looking to reduce their full-time headcount during these somewhat uncertain times.

However looking at the concept of temping or contracting from an individual talent perspective in today's market may well come down to lifestyle choice. Being a professional temp or contractor can provide a broad exposure to many different industries as well as giving individuals more of an opportunity to strike a better work-life balance.

Contracting may well be the way to go ... with companies more likely to take on contractors in the months ahead this could be your chance to gain some experience in a sector you may never have otherwise considered.

What are your thoughts about contracting? Have your say or if you have questions about the idea of contracting please just ask!

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We often hear people telling us how important it is to strike a perfect work-life balance.

Ask yourself: "How often do you already find yourself exhausted on a Monday afternoon?", "How often do you take your work home with you?", or "When did you last miss an important family event due to your work commitments?". These questions are all designed to convince us to have more choice and control over our working lives, and to switch off and leave it all behind us at the end of the day.

But what if the answer to each of the questions posed above is actually "never"?

Could this possibly mean that you have found your perfect work-life balance?

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have found the perfect balance between a successful career, commuting to and from work, juggling external studies or sports commitments, raising a family and somehow still being able to relax (or even getting away on holidays!) without letting work invade our personal life, perhaps there is a new career-based utopia to strive for ... the "work-work balance".

So what exactly is the rationale behind this relatively contemporary workplace phenomenon?

It's a well-known fact that satisfying, stimulating and self-fulfilling jobs are fairly difficult to come by. And once you have found the perfect job that you have been searching for, often the challenge is to maintain the high levels of motivation, ambition, drive and commitment to doing the best job possible.

Consider the following important steps to achieving your work-work Balance:

• Enjoy what you do
• Accept responsibility and accountability for your own tasks
• Remain focused on the job at hand
• Organise your time effectively
• Strive for open and honest team communication
• Reduce unnecessary negative stress
• Always know what lies ahead in terms of personal growth and your own career development
• Spend time on interesting and challenging projects
• Don't dwell on trivial non work-related issues

Remember ... you need to look after Number One.

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