January 25, 2012 by admin.

Do you want to be more impressive to future employers or get a promotion at your current company?  One way to get noticed is to enhance your learning agility because there’s a clear connection between this and potential performance in newly assigned tasks.  Over the next few days, I’ll write about the four types of learning agility:  mental; people; change; and results.  Each dimension of learning agility can be enhanced, and thus you can increase your potential for that next promotion!

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September 13, 2011 by admin.

I’ve heard many of my friends and coworkers say, “I’m just not creative!”  You may have more creativity locked inside than you realize.  The key to unlocking that creative bent is to engage in some different activities to stretch those creative brain muscles.

 One suggestion is to take an art of photography class, even if you haven’t ever had an interest in pursuing either as an avocation, let alone a vocation.  This type of class will guide you towards leaning on your visual sense of proportion and color placing items in relationship to one another for the best possible effect. 

More ideas on enhancing creativity next time!

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September 13, 2011 by admin.

If you’re an introverted, reserved person, I have an idea that will help you to enhance the interpersonal dimension of EQ:  take a course on negotiation or conflict resolution!  Courses of this type require students to consider others’ needs and wants in order to offer solutions to problems they have in common.  Successful conflict resolution requires all parties involved to think creatively to find ways to improve a process or address a problem.  This helps develop the skill to articulate your own needs effectively, as well.

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September 13, 2011 by admin.

If you select the right organization AND the right committee to join and get actively involved in, this can actually help you develop your interpersonal skills.  To get the most from committee membership, go to as many of the social hour portion of the meetings as you can and walk from group to group to introduce yourself.  Find two of three people you enjoy being with and ask what committee they’re on….join and get involved with that committee.  It’s likely to be work you enjoy and promote your interpersonal abilities at the same time.

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September 13, 2011 by admin.

I’ve heard lots of complaints from forty-somethings about not having as good a memory as in the past.  There are ways to improve one’s memory!  Let me just share a couple of them:

 When we meet someone for the first time, we can say their name out loud and form a mental image of the name associated with something that sticks with us.  For example, if you meet someone named Harry Bush, say his name and plant a mental image in your mind of a hairy bush.  If you’re reading about a new idea or subject on your computer, make it harder - yes harder - to read by changing the font style to a smaller style or something like Andy that isn’t as familiar.  This will actually help you remember the topic!  One more suggestion, and it seems unrelated to memory:  walk more.  My research indicates that physical activity stimulates and helps build brain muscle, which in turn helps strengthen memory!

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May 9, 2011 by admin.

I’ve heard so many of my friends say that they’re just not creative.  I thought that about myself until I took photography lessons several years ago.  I now have a heightened sense of proportion and color, as well as the best way to place items in the lens in relationship to one another to get the maximum effect.  Besides just being fun, I definitely have improved my artistic sensibilities!

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April 20, 2011 by admin.

A career coach can help you understand your true wants and desires; specifically, in terms of the direction you want to take in your career.  A coach can ask you the tough questions that require reflection, such as, “What do I really want out of life?” and “What makes me happy?”  The coach won’t answer these questions for you, yet will guide you towards finding the answers and being truthful with yourself first and foremost.

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April 13, 2011 by admin.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to take a personality profile such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or DISC, this could provide insights into your personality and help you be more reflective about why you react the way you do to people or situations.  These profiles are not “tests” - they can’t be failed.  Through a series of event-centered or people-centered questions, the profiles assess the way you  take in information, process that information, and respond to the world around you.  When I first took the MBTI years ago, I had that “aha” moment that comes to those who aren’t always sure why some people just push our buttons.  Now I know - and I can prepare better to handle potentially uncomfortable situations or difficult people.

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April 5, 2011 by admin.

More men than women have confessed to me that this is a weak area for them because they weren’t encouraged as children to be introspective and reflective.  Yet, one of the best ways to minimize making the same mistake in life is to reflect on lessons learned from past errors in judgment.  In my next few blogs, I’ll make some suggestions that are designed to help build your understanding of why you do the things you do.

My recommendation today is for you to start a journal and keep it up on a daily basis.  You may be thinking, “what do I write about?”  Write about what you did that day, your dreams for the future and what you did that day to move forward to achieving those dreams, and the people you interacted with and how they affected you.  People I know who keep a journal have shared with me that this is very cathartic because they can vent without actually saying something out loud that they’ll regret later.  Going over what you’ve written in the past can provide insights to how certain people, events and situations affect and influence your behaviors.

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February 21, 2011 by admin.

If you have a car and a CD/DVD player in said car, you have an opportunity to develop your verbal ability!  Instead of listening to the same music over and over, I occasionally listen to books on tape.  This keeps me entertained and I often hear words that are new to me….or words that I know that are used in different ways.  As soon as I can, I introduce new words learned into my conversations.

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