Five College Skills You Can Use To Boost Your Career

May 06, 2013 by William Frierson
Article from http://www.collegerecruiter.com/blog/2013/05/06/five-college-skills-you-can-use-to-boost-your-career/

The word “skills” on a chalkboard. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

You have a degree. Now what?

For many college grads, looking back at the time spent feverishly studying for term papers and putting together presentations can be nostalgic. It can also reveal some crucial life lessons learned throughout your time in college.

Although some lessons learned will not apply to all types of jobs, the career path you choose will benefit from the skills you acquired during your education. Here are the top five college skills you can use to build up your career and get you started in the real world on the right foot.

1.    Communication – First and foremost, you need to be able to properly and effectively communicate with others. In college, you meet a lot of people. When you do, you learn how to connect with a variety of communication styles. This lesson can be applied to any job that you may begin. Whether you are a doctor needing to communicate with your patients, or a web developer needing to communicate with clients, communication skills are crucial.

2.    Problem Solving – Throughout your college career, you work hard to solve problems in your class, social life, and schedule. These problem-solving skills prove beneficial in a career, regardless of which field you enter. To be exceptional at problem solving, you must think analytically and creatively. You must have an exceptional ability to use reason and initiative to come up with solutions. Your creative side will help you to think outside the box to come up with innovative ideas that will help bring you to the next level in your career.

3.    Time Management – Organization is a crucial life lesson to have. From juggling work and family, you must be able to know your limits and manage your time effectively so that you can accomplish everything on your plate. In college, you are focused on multiple courses and internships at one time. Out in your job, you will focus on a variety of tasks in each workday. Using your time management skills learned in college can help you to prioritize tasks and get your projects completed on time, every time.

4.    Integrity – Ethics in the workplace, whether you go into healthcare or the corporate world, are vital to your career success. While not always talked about in job interviews or cover letters, having integrity to stay true to your values and do what is right in every situation will help you be successful now and in the future.

5.    Self-Motivation – Going to college, waking up for class, and holding a steady job requires you to be motivated. Just showing up takes initiative and drive. In your career, you can take this passion to be the best person you can be to another level by exceeding expectations each and every time. Show your employer that you are goal-oriented and your drive to make it to the top and you will impress the right people to help you get ahead.

As you head out into the workforce, holding onto these intrinsic values will help you get ahead. You will become a better person for having developed these life skills, and your career will benefit from it.

About the Author:

Joyce Del Rosario is a career and education blogger and she is a  part of the team behind Open Colleges and InformED, one of Australia’s leading providers of Open Learning and distance education.

William Frierson

Article from http://www.collegerecruiter.com/blog/2013/05/06/five-college-skills-you-can-use-to-boost-your-career/

Better life

Written by Armando O. Bartolome
Published on Tuesday, 07 May 2013 18:59  
From: http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/business/entrepreneur/13129-better-life

THIS column is dedicated to those are searching for a better life. Many of us are almost always faced with stresses and challenges daily. Recent reports about the young in particular easily giving up disturbed me, as you should also be.

Time management binds our life. The Pareto Principle also known as the 80:20 Rule states that 80 percent of efforts that are not managed or unfocused generate only 20 percent of desired output, but that 80 percent of the desired output can be generated using only 20 percent of well-managed efforts. Although the ratio 80:20 is only arbitrary, it is used to emphasize how much is lost or gained through judicious  or wasteful time management.

Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling appointments or setting goals or priorities through thorough planning. But there are more skills involved in time management than the core basics of making it to meetings or achieving targets, among them, learning to make  decisions and developing inherent abilities, such as critical thinking.

Personal time management involves everything big and small that you do. Every bit of knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider and each new skill you develop should be considered in managing your time well.

Getting results, not being busy, is what personal time management  should be all about. To get the results, you first have to improve your physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual aspects, key areas to achieving a better life.

The physical aspect involves having a healthy body and lessening stress and fatigue.

The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental-growth activities.

The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.

The career aspect involves school and work.

The emotional aspect involves manifesting feelings and desires.

The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.

Thoroughly planning and preparing a to-do list for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is not being given enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole you. If you are ignoring one area, then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.

Personal time management need not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach to solving problems big or small. Practice it and enjoy self-fulfillment and other benefits.

Through the following, learn time management and improve your personal life:

o   Review your goals whether short term or long term.

o   Make good on the review by keeping a list of such goals. You should always have access to the list.

o   Always determine which task is necessary or not in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced lifestyle.

o   Do the difficult tasks when you  are at your sharpest.

o   Learn to say “No.” You actually hear this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.

o   Pat yourself on the back or just reward yourself in any manner for effective time-management results.

o   Try to get the cooperation of people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts to manage your time well.

o   Don’t procrastinate.

o   Adopt a positive attitude and set yourself up for success but be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.

o   Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you put things in their proper perspective.

Personal time management is the art and science of building a better life. In acquiring time-management skills, you are presented options on how to grow personally and doors for opportunities to knock on. A happy life to all.

Feel free to visit my web site http://www.gmb.com.ph

Written by Armando O. Bartolome
Published on Tuesday, 07 May 2013 18:59  
From: http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/business/entrepreneur/13129-better-life

10 Time Management Tips That Work

Are you working on clock time or 'real' time? Learn how to manage your day by understanding the difference with these 10 time management tips.

BY JOE MATHEWS, DON DEBOLT AND DEB PERCIVAL

From: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219553

Chances are good that, at some time in your life, you've taken a time management class, read about it in books, and tried to use an electronic or paper-based day planner to organize, prioritize and schedule your day. "Why, with this knowledge and these gadgets," you may ask, "do I still feel like I can't get everything done I need to?"

The answer is simple. Everything you ever learned about managing time is a complete waste of time because it doesn't work.

Before you can even begin to manage time, you must learn what time is. A dictionary defines time as "the point or period at which things occur." Put simply, time is when stuff happens.

There are two types of time: clock time and real time. In clock time, there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. All time passes equally. When someone turns 50, they are exactly 50 years old, no more or no less.

In real time, all time is relative. Time flies or drags depending on what you're doing. Two hours at the department of motor vehicles can feel like 12 years. And yet our 12-year-old children seem to have grown up in only two hours.

Which time describes the world in which you really live, real time or clock time?

The reason time management gadgets and systems don't work is that these systems are designed to manage clock time. Clock time is irrelevant. You don't live in or even have access to clock time. You live in real time, a world in which all time flies when you are having fun or drags when you are doing your taxes.

The good news is that real time is mental. It exists between your ears. You create it. Anything you create, you can manage. It's time to remove any self-sabotage or self-limitation you have around "not having enough time," or today not being "the right time" to start a business or manage your current business properly.

There are only three ways to spend time: thoughts, conversations and actions. Regardless of the type of business you own, your work will be composed of those three items.

As an entrepreneur, you may be frequently interrupted or pulled in different directions. While you cannot eliminate interruptions, you do get a say on how much time you will spend on them and how much time you will spend on the thoughts, conversations and actions that will lead you to success. 

Practice the following techniques to become the master of your own time:

Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. This will help you understand how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your precious moments are going. You'll see how much time is actually spent producing results and how much time is wasted on unproductive thoughts, conversations and actions.

Any activity or conversation that's important to your success should have a time assigned to it. To-do lists get longer and longer to the point where they're unworkable. 

Appointment books work. Schedule appointments with yourself and create time blocks for high-priority thoughts, conversations, and actions. Schedule when they will begin and end. Have the discipline to keep these appointments.

Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations that produce most of your results.

Schedule time for interruptions. Plan time to be pulled away from what you're doing. Take, for instance, the concept of having "office hours." Isn't "office hours" another way of saying "planned interruptions?"

Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day. Don't start your day until you complete your time plan. The most important time of your day is the time you schedule to schedule time.

Take five minutes before every call and task to decide what result you want to attain. This will help you know what success looks like before you start. And it will also slow time down. Take five minutes after each call and activity to determine whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what's missing in your next call or activity?

Put up a "Do not disturb" sign when you absolutely have to get work done.

Practice not answering the phone just because it's ringing and e-mails just because they show up. Disconnect instant messaging. Don't instantly give people your attention unless it's absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer email and return phone calls.

Block out other distractions like Facebook and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.

Remember that it's impossible to get everything done. Also remember that odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.

Matthews has held management roles with Subway, Blimpie, Motophoto and The Entrepreneur’s Source. DeBolt is a former president of the International Franchise Association. Percival works in franchise development. They are co-authors of Street Smart Franchising from Entrepreneur Press. 

BY JOE MATHEWS, DON DEBOLT AND DEB PERCIVAL

From: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219553