Soft skills

How To Stop Worrying – 5 Tips

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How to stop worrying is an important soft skill to learn if you want to reduce stress and if you want to be the most effective at work and in life.  Everyone worries including me

  • “Does my client respect my work?
  • “How secure is my job? Will they extend my contract when it ends in October?”
  • “Will my 4 year old get a good enough education if she attended public school in San Francisco? Will she get into a good school?”

These are just a few of my worries today.  Worrying is a natural human emotion and everyone experience it.  So it is ok to worry.  What matters is how long you spend worrying in a day?  A few minutes is normal.  Prolonged worrying (for hours and days) is counterproductive and detrimental to your well being.  Nothing really gets solved or prevented from pro-longed worrying.  All you are doing when you are worried all the time is wasting time and freaking yourself out in the process. ...  read more

How to Present Well – 9 Tips

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Every person can learn how to present well.  Both the techniques you use and your style matter in the success of a good presentation. Not every presentation approach will work for an individual person, and it is always recommended to develop a personal style that you are comfortable and confident using. This confidence will show to an audience, and will make it much easier for you to deliver presentations without experiencing significant stress. ...  read more

Contract Rate – How To Negotiate

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Many job seekers are considering doing contract work as an alternative to full time employment.  It sometimes give us more flexibility and an ability to continue working that full time employment may not allow.  When you do transition from full time employment to contract work, you will be paid by the hour instead of a salary.  Therefore it’s important to know how to convert salary to an hourly rate in order to know what should ask for in a contract situation. ...  read more

Reduce Stress Now – 7 Practical Tips

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I want to share 7 tips that will help you reduce stress at work now.  Job-related stress is common for many people, but it can be quite counter-productive, can lead to unhappiness at work, and can be detrimental to your health.

The fact that you are reading this post means you want to reduce stress and are aware of the consequences of stress for your work and well-being.  This is good news, as managing stress has to start with awareness. ...  read more

Consequences of Stress – A Different Perspective

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Did you know that April 16 is National Stress Awareness Day?  Ironically, you and I are probably too stressed to notice.  Well, in honor of April 16, I am dedicating all of the blog posts this month to the consequences of stress, and how to reduce stress.

We are so used to having stress in our work that I think we often forget the price we actually pay in the long run. This is because the consequences of stress (illness, early death) do not show until many years later. By contrast, the rewards of putting ourselves in stressful situations are more apparent and immediate – praise for a successfully completed project, a raise as a result of our stellar work, or a quicker path to promotion. ...  read more

How to Convert Salary to Hourly Rate

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In today’s tough job market, many companies are reducing their full time employment job openings which are paid by annual salary in order to save headcount cost and be able to adapt more quickly to changing market conditions.    Instead companies are hiring more contractors who are paid by hourly rate and has a defined contract period (e.g. 6 – 18 months).   As a result, many job seekers are also seeking contractor positions in addition to full time employment in order to increase their chances. ...  read more