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resolutions

Career Boosting Resolutions for Professional Growth in 2020

Traditionally, people around the world write their resolutions before the start of a new year. Because it is believed that the start of the New Year breeds a good opportunity for you to set new plans. On the other hand, many people still find it intimidating to write resolutions for the fear of not being able to fulfil it. But, do not also forget that resolutions are meant to be a guide rather than a burden.

So this coming 2020, it is better to renew your fighting spirit and take advantage of the brand new opportunities ahead. Now, let this list of career-boosting resolutions help you make the year ahead to be your best one.

Remove your bad habits.

Surely, we all have our fair share of bad work habits that we wanted to get rid of. It could be overworking, skipping lunch breaks, stressing yourself out, or other things that make you feel bad. It’ll be hard, but try to slowly remove these bad habits that slow you down and hinders your professional growth.

Develop your own stress-busting techniques.

In one instance or more, you surely have experienced stress at work. We all know that stress could take a toll on your mental health especially when it happens constantly. Stress can seriously affect your productivity, and most importantly the quality of your works. So, you need to have coping mechanisms that will help ease the stress. If counting to 10 doesn’t work well for you, then you should find simple ways to help de-stress your workday.

Cultivate your sense of self-awareness.

Acknowledging your strengths, weaknesses, needs, and goals is a tremendous professional asset. Knowing what you can, what you can’t, and what to improve will give you extra encouragement to work harder. So this holidays, make sure to spend valuable time with yourself. More than honing your self-awareness, it will also help strengthen your self-confidence and mental health.

Take the plunge, take the risk.

If this year has been holding you back from doing something that would help with your self-improvement, then try again in 2020. Do not be afraid to take a risk, most importantly if it will personally be good for you.

Just like how the saying goes, “if your dream doesn’t scare you, it isn’t big enough”, let fear be the basis of how big your goal is. Say for example, if you’re nervous about public speaking, continuously do it until you get used to it. Let 2020 be the year of making peace with yourself.

Develop a new skill.

There is so much to learn about in a tech-driven business world that constantly evolves. Sticking only to your primary field of expertise is no longer enough while other people around you develop a new skill or two. Eventually, you’ll get left behind. So use these holidays as a good opportunity to learn a new skill. It could be researching, video editing, writing, or anything that would highly be beneficial to your career.

Remember that learning will never get out of style.

Make valuable connections.

In the age of social media, connections should be beyond what these apps can offer. Learn how to expand your horizons and meet new people in the same field as yours. But, be careful in choosing the people to connect with. It is better to talk to a very few intelligent people rather than just a huge number of them.

Make valuable connections that will stimulate genuine interest in you or one that you will take in life and career.

Honour your resolutions.

Listing your resolutions is already one huge step ahead of the improvements that you want to accomplish. But, pushing them forward and actually honouring them could be another big leap for you, your career advancement, and self-growth.

And while the next year brings so much hope for fresh beginnings and continued success, we here at Dynamic Business Outsourcing Solutions will unceasingly uphold the goal of providing quality and cost-effective offshore staffing services to Australian SMEs and more.

Browse on our career opportunities today and be a part of our growing family!

How to Work Smarter and Quickly Avoid Burnout

As working adults, burnout is something we have felt at least once in our lives. It’s natural to get tired from constantly working hard day and night, after all, we’re only human. However, there’s a solution to help you avoid this so you don’t get sidetracked from reaching your goals. We’ve compiled a short list of tips to help you stay focused and refreshed.

1. Set clear boundaries between work and play

From the very second, you leave the office, set aside anything that’s work-related. Tomorrow’s tasks is tomorrow’s problem, and quit checking your emails outside your shift. You can choose between leaving your work phone behind or use apps like Cold Turkey or Focus Booster to help encourage you in keeping your mind off from work. The time you spend outside your job should be dedicated to your home life, other interests and self-care. My friend from Japan shared that her bosses advise her to turn down clients when they call her outside her shift. Even the mere act of answering their texts can give them the impression that her time isn’t as important as theirs.

multi tasking

2. Take things one at a time

Some people are born multitaskers, while the rest of us try in vain just to keep up with the demands of our job. There are ways to help you manage your time better, all of which you can easily adapt to your daily routine. Forcing yourself to do two different things at the same time might compromise the quality of your output and unnecessarily stress you out. Research has shown that when multitasking, your brain spends 40% more time to process switching between tasks. Additionally, a study by Stanford University discovered that even people who believe they are great at multitasking to tend to make more mistakes and took longer to complete tasks. The efficiency of multitasking is a common misconception and it’s better to focus on doing one task instead and then transition into another once it’s accomplished.

 

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Outsourcing small tasks can do so much for time management. Apps like TaskRabbit allows you to hire people for specific tasks and you can always check out UpWork and Fiverr for freelancers. Not only will you save on time, you can also save on energy and materials to get things done. You can also opt for a personal virtual assistant to help you plan ahead and manage your schedule better. There are also other productivity apps like Indigo, Hound and EasilyDo that can serve as your personal assistant if you’re tight on budget.

stress

4. Mental health is just as important as physical health

Self-care must always include checking on your psychological health. However, not everyone can afford to go to a therapist regularly which makes it harder for people to get the proper help that they need. When things get tough, you can opt for cheap and virtual alternatives such as Talkspace and BetterHelp which connects you to a licensed professional and allows you to have counselling sessions without ever leaving your home.

 

Staying motivated may be hard, but it’s not impossible. It just takes the right approach to help make sure you are on the right track to success.

happy business woman

The Power of a Positive Attitude

Keeping a positive outlook in life comes naturally to some, but not all. As working adults, we often overlook positivity in favour of being grounded in reality to avoid getting disappointed. When it comes to your career, however, being cheerful and optimistic can actually help you a lot. If you find yourself having trouble thinking more about the good things in life, we’ve listed some of the ways you can change your state of mind.

1. Monitor thoughts by keeping a journal

We all have bad days and go through rough patches in life–it cannot be avoided. When the times are tough, staying optimistic is often the last thing we have in mind. By keeping a journal, you can keep track of your thoughts, feelings, opinions and ideas. You can then look back at what you’ve written and proceed to assess your mental state. Ever seen a Facebook status you wrote years ago pop up on your FB Memories? A lot of people cringe at their older selves for posting such stuff when they were younger, and keeping a journal is exactly like that. You can reminisce about all the good things that have happened, and remind yourself of what you’ve learned from your past mistakes and misfortunes. Some people maintain specific journals, like a “gratitude journal” to remind themselves of what to be thankful for, some people keep a dream journal and so on. Keeping a journal is also a healthy way of airing out your thoughts while still keeping your privacy.

2. Practice using affirmative language

Instead of saying “I can’t”, there are positive ways to approach tasks and situations. You can repeat the following phrases to yourself, or just keep them in mind to help motivate you:

  • “I know I can do it.”
  • “I can beat any challenge.”
  • “I’m one day closer to my goals.”
  • “If I believe it, I can achieve it.”  

Using this as a mantra helps set your mind in working towards your goals and keeps you in focus.

positive cup

3. Dedicate a few minutes to power posing

A new study has revealed that holding a power pose for as short as two minutes can help boost your confidence and performance. In a Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy, body language and non-verbal communication significantly affects and reflects our attitude and behaviour. By tweaking the way we use our body, we can project a stronger character that our brains can later adapt into. As she puts it, “fake it ‘til you make it.” Amy advises that this trick can be easily applied to real-life situations such as getting a confidence boost before a job interview or giving a speech. Power posing can raise testosterone levels by 20% and decrease cortisol levels (a hormone released by the body when under stress) by 25%.

stretch in office

4. Change the way you approach challenges

Whenever you hit a particularly difficult part of your life, or when things don’t go according to what you’ve expected, think of it as a simple detour. To quote Aaron Burr from Hamilton: An American musical, “I am the one thing in life I can control.” There are a lot of things that are beyond our control, but we can always incite changes within ourselves. Re-frame your challenges by thinking of failures as mere redirections instead of dead-ends: when one door closes, another one will open.

 

These are just a few ways on how you can maintain a positive attitude. When practised regularly, it will be just as easy as breathing.

Did you enjoy reading this article? You can check out this one for tips on how to spice up your work life.

happy businessman

How to Effectively Manage Your Career

There are no shortcuts or a secret formula to success, no matter how many books and talk show hosts claim to say so. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t surefire ways to manage your progress. It’s all about self-improvement, discipline, and finding the right motivation. We’ve listed some tips that can help guide you through your journey to building the perfect career.

1. Choose your career path and define your goals

What do you do best and where do you want to be in five or ten years? These are some of the questions you need to reflect on. Before you start your journey, you have to pick your destination and the route you will take to get there. Assess your talents, where your passions lie, and what you need to achieve. This way, you get a clear picture of your end goal, and it will be easier to plan ahead. For example, suppose your best skill is in cooking and your dream is to be able to run your own restaurant–from there, you can get a better idea of how to proceed in achieving that goal. In the next five years or so, maybe you can strive to upskill yourself by working alongside professionals and saving money for your capital–and along the way you can pick up some knowledge on how to run and sustain a business. Let your goal be your compass.

2. Build a strong foundation

As mentioned earlier, you can upgrade your skill set by working your way up the food chain. Start small, gather resources and build a network: this applies to any industry. Say you are an aspiring artist, immerse yourself in the community and start by creating a name for yourself. Put your work out there–whether it be online or through joining galleries, go to conventions, meet people and market yourself. The stronger your base is, the easier it will be to push yourself forward. Take Walt Disney for example, currently the biggest name in entertainment history. Disney wasn’t born a billionaire, but he was born an artist. Even at an early age, he knew the value of entertainment and art–he drew pictures for his neighbours in exchange for money, made cartoons for his school newspaper, and after going through a rough jobless phase, Disney finally went into the field of advertising where he first started earning big. Disney’s venture into advertising served as a launchpad for his career in animation and that’s how he became the entertainment powerhouse we knew today.

college degree

3. Brace yourself for challenges and changes

Life will always throw us curveballs that could leave us derailed, but the difference between successful people and those who aren’t is their ability get back up when they’re knocked down. This is always the hardest part, and sometimes it could seem like it never ends. If a job is starting to have more pitfalls than advantages, maybe it’s time to leave. Don’t be afraid of starting over, because as long as you carry on and learn from your mistakes, it still counts as a huge improvement.

4. Create your own definition of success

Success is such a relative term, that it could mean different things to different people. What is success to you? Is it monetary gain? Is it satisfaction? Sometimes we get so caught up in the daily grind that we forget to appreciate what we already achieved. Though it’s good to have a strong drive, it’s equally important to know when to stop pushing yourself. Reward yourself for all your hard work and efforts, and learn how to thank the people that got you where you are. Once you feel like you’ve found what success means to you and finally achieved it, you can help out others reach their own.

businessman in car

It’s not wrong to dream big, but if you don’t put in the efforts to make that dream a reality, it will only stay a dream. Believe in yourself and your own capabilities, that’s what will truly launch you forward!