#1: Your retirement dinner -Imagine it is your retirement dinner. It is an unusual retirement dinner at which your family, friends, and colleagues stand up and describe the type of person that you are for them. How would you like to be remembered? What do you want your children and friends to say about you? How would you like to be described by your colleagues? By creating a vision of what you would like to be in the future, in different areas of your life, you often reflect the personal values that are most important to you in each of these different areas. Write down on a sheet of paper what you would like each person to say about the different areas of your life. At the same time, think about what is important to you and the type of person that you would like to be. Identify those areas of your life that are most important to you. This can help you to clarify priorities for future goal setting strategies.
#2: Emulate someone you admire If you have trouble visualizing your retirement dinner in goal setting activity #1, then imagine somebody that you admire and respect: What qualities do they have that you admire? Often the characteristics that you admire in another can say a lot about the type of person that you would like to be. Take a blank piece of paper and write down the qualities of this person in each life domain: career, finance, family, personal relationships, community citizenship and any others that you can think of. Write a paragraph on the type of person that you would like to be in each area of your life. Practice ‘no limit’ thinking. Don’t limit yourself by your fears, lack of money, or a lack of time – clarify a vision of your ideal self.
#3: Develop goal setting plans for each area of your life In the above goal setting activities you have provided an ideal vision of the different areas of your life, spanning career, family, and social and personal life. Family goal setting. Do you want to spend more quality time with your family? What sort of parent or partner do you want to be? From this page you can download a family goal setting plan. Education. Do you want to learn something new or become an expert in a particular area? What new skills do you want to acquire? Fitness goal setting. Do you want to lose weight or become fitter? Perhaps you want to improve your game or remain motivated to keep training. Do you want to remain healthy as you get older? What steps do you need to take? From this page you can download a fitness goal setting plan. Setting financial goals. What sort of money do you want to earn? Do you want to achieve financial freedom? If so, then how? From this page you can download a financial goal setting plan. Setting personal goals. Do you want to maintain a positive mindset? Are there behaviors that you want to improve? Do you want to have more pleasure and happiness in your life? Career goal setting. Where do you want to be in your career? What type of job do you want to work in? What skills do you want to learn for your job? From this page you can download a career goal setting plan. It is helpful when you are trying to create a vision of the type of person that you want to be to consider your life from these different aspects. The following goal setting activity makes these personal visions of yourself more concrete.
#4: Practice setting SMART goals In the above goal setting activities you have clarified your personal vision. You then made these abstract goals more concrete by developing goal setting strategies in goal setting activity #3. In this goal setting activity you are going to try to develop SMART goals. SMART goals are a proven method of maximizing goal setting success. Pick one of your goals. Whether you choose a career goal, a fitness goal or a personal goal, try to identify how you can make your goal SMART. Specific Measurable Action-based Realistic Time-bound This can dramatically increase your chances of achieving goals.
#5: Prioritize your goals Enthusiasm for goal setting is great – but sometimes enthusiasm needs to be focused into what is important for you. Why? A by-product of enthusiasm can mean that you set too many goals. This can spread you too thin and result in not achieving any of your important goals! Perhaps you want to: achieve financial success spend more time with your family achieve greater fitness get that dream job While these are great things to aim for, too many goals can be a distraction and take your focus away on what is important to you.
Source: Finer Minds.
2. “If you’re accused of sexual harassment, even if you’re found to be not guilty, people will always look at you funny afterwards. It can kill your career.” –Laurie Ruettimann, HR consultant and speaker in Raleigh, N.C .
3. “Even in jobs where you test applicants and those with the top scores are supposed to get the job, I’ve seen hiring managers fix scores to get the people they like.” –HR representative in the manufacturing industry.
4. “If you have a question, come to my office. Don’t corner me in the bathroom.” –HR professional at a mid- sized firm in North Carolina
5. “Children and hobbies do not belong on a résumé. And never, ever say, ‘Now that my kids are in college, I’m ready to get back in the workforce.’ ” –HR professional at a mid-sized firm in North Carolina
6. “Someone might tell you to ‘Be yourself’ in the interview. Don’t be yourself. That’s the worst advice ever. We don’t want people who are neurotic and quirky and whatever else. All we care about is your skill and experience.” –Laurie Ruettimann, HR consultant and speaker in Raleigh, N.C.
7. “You’re right to be paranoid. The company is always watching you, and there’s a record of everything you do: every phone call, every text, every tweet and instant message. At most companies, they save that data forever.” –Laurie Ruettimann, HR consultant and speaker in Raleigh, N.C
8. “I was asked by one CEO to hire the long-legged girl with the long dark hair even though she didn’t have the right skills. Another time, I was instructed not to hire anyone with children because the company had too many people leaving for soccer games. That kind of thing happens all the time.” –Cynthia Shapiro
9. “I know many of you met your former spouse at the company. But the thing is, for every one of you, there are five people it doesn’t work out as well for. And your office romance can and will be held against you.” –Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer at Atlanta-based Kinetix who blogs at HRcapitalist.com.
10. “Many people think, ‘If I work extra hard, I’m going to get noticed.’ But it doesn’t work that way. If you want to advance, some of the responsibility falls on you to toot your own horn. Make sure your supervisor and your supervisor’s supervisor are well of aware of what you’re contributing.” –Michael Slade, HR director at Eric Mower and Associates, an integrated marketing communications agency.
11. “I know a lot more about you when you walk in the door than you realize. I’ll search for you on the web and often use my own personal network to do a pre-interview reference check.” –Senior HR Executive in New York City
12. “Generally speaking, you only put someone on paid leave if you’re pretty certain that they might be terminated from the company once you do your investigation.” –Kris Dunn
13. “Never accept the job immediately. Say you need to think about it overnight. Once you sign on the dotted line there’s no room for negotiation.” –A human resources professional in New York City
14. “If you get fired, don’t just stomp out and go on with your life. The company may be willing to give you some severance, especially if you can point to someone different from you who didn’t get as severe a punishment. Just saying, ‘Well, I talked to my attorney’ (even if you don’t have an attorney) can also give you some leverage.’” –Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive and the “Evil HR lady” on bnet.com
15. “If we ask ‘What salary are you looking for?’ say you’re flexible, or say it depends on the responsibilities of the job. Try not to name a salary unless we really push you, because that gives us a leg up in the negotiating.” –A human resources professional in New York City
16. “I’ve always hated the big United Way drive at work. Not because of the United Way. Great organization. Because of the smell of solicitation in the air, and because we are usually in the middle of it.” –Kris Dunn
17. “Companies do have black lists. It’s not written down anywhere but it’s a list of people they’d be happy to get rid of if the opportunity arises. If you feel invisible, if you’re getting bad assignments, if your boss is ignoring you, or if they move your office, you’re probably on it.” –Cynthia Shapiro
18. “I may say ‘I’m terminating you because you didn’t meet performance measures.’ I’m not going to say it’s because you’re a pain in the butt and piss people off every time you interact with them.’” –HR Manager at a healthcare facility
19. “I once had someone send me Forget-me-not seeds with their thank you note. Yes, thank me for taking the time, that’s great. But sending me seeds? That’s weird.” –Sharlyn Lauby, human resources consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
20. “Don’t lie about your salary. Ever. Even if your employer doesn’t tell us (and most do), we’ll find out eventually. I’ve terminated two people for doing that.” –A human resources professional in New York City.
Source: Reader's Digest.
1. Have the talk. If you don’t talk about money, your kids may end up thinking that it grows on trees and they don’t have to worry about it. They want to buy the things their friends have, with no concept of where the money comes from, or the difference between needs and wants.
2. If you feel awkward talking with your teen about money, look for help. Mymoney.gov, AmericaSaves.org, ING Direct’s Planet Orange, and SchwabMoneyWise.com are some of the many websites designed to help parents educate themselves and their children about money.
3. Don’t give teenagers an allowance. A study at the University of Washington that examined more than 50 years’ of allowance research found that the kids who received a regular, unconditional allowance thought much less about money and were more likely to grow up to be “slackers.” Giving teens an allowance for chores is also a bad idea, as it teaches them that working for money isn’t fun.
4. Be aware of the messages you send. How you talk about money and how you manage money will strongly affect the way your teens learn to manage money.
5. Encourage your teen to get a job. Help him or her figure out how to set aside part of each paycheck in a savings account.
6. Help her save for something special. Every teenager hankers after something she cannot afford: a car, a laptop, a camera. Teach your teen to funnel a small part of her income into an interest-earning savings account for her dream purchase. She will never forget the thrill of watching her money grow and paying for the item herself.
7. Don’t give your teenager a credit card. Many kids think of credit cards as a magic wand they can use to buy things, without ever thinking of the real cost of an item.
8. Help your teen avoid debt. If he spends $300 on text messaging or on fancy apps for his iPhone, use those mistakes as lessons.
9. Let your teen help you write checks and balance your bank accounts. Use an old-fashioned checkbook rather than paying online. When you make payments over the Internet, the money seems fictional. Writing a number on a check, signing it, and putting it into a stamped envelope gives teens a more concrete feeling about money and its meaning.
Sources: Reader's Digest.
