become your inspiration

Is it possible at all?

How do we change the usual “It’s finally Friday” to “It’s finally Monday”?

Or at least “Weekend was great but I am happy to start my week”?

I work in the international company and I have a confession to make, I started avoiding asking some of my colleagues “How are you?” on Monday morning.  Because I know their answer! It’s always the same!  “Well, its Monday”, “Well, at least we have a short week this time”, etc. etc.

Are you one of them?

Or maybe, you are one of many, who are happy with what they do? Or maybe you learnt how to combine your work with your hobby?

Today I would like to share with you 6 rules that will help you to get where you want to be. This methodology has been created by talented blogger and expert on personal branding, Laia Arcones.

Ready?

According to Laia, 6 steps towards success and happiness at work are the following:

Rule 1: Know yourself.  We only become best version of ourselves  once we accept who we actually are.

Laia suggests us to complete the exercise, answering the following questions:

1. What am I good at? What are my skills? (eg. I like to speak in Public and this is something that I was working on for several years, until I won the first place in the contest).

2. What knowledge do I possess? (eg. I speak several languages, I know programming, etc.)

3. What is my experience? (eg. I have been working in small and large companies; I have international background, etc.)

What are your strong points?

Rule 2: Be authentic.  Be yourself, the rest of the positions have been taken.

Stick to your essence by knowing your values! Working in something that is aligned with our values makes us feel better, more balanced and alive.

Make a list of 10 values – what are they? Is it stability, adventure, control, success, etc.? Choose 3 the most important from this list. What are the values that you honoring at your current work? Do you respect your values by doing what you do?

Rule 3: Know your mission. There is no wind that can drive someone who does not know the direction.

Laia offers us to paint our mission – let’s take the piece of paper and paint ourselves in 30 years.

What makes you happy about your professional life?

What do you want to achieve in order to make your life meaningful?

Laia advises us to take time and dive deep – instead of simple “be happy”, try to visualize what is that makes you happy at work?

Rule 4: Focus.  If it is not bringing you closer to your goal, it keeps you away from it.

Once you know you destination and your mission, you can pursue it. It’s time to create the action plan that will help you to reach your goals. Breaking down your objectives into something achievable, will help you to be where you want to be.

For example, write down the goals for 1 year towards the mission defined in rule 3 – what are they?

To proceed, write down the objectives for 5 upcoming years – what are they?

As you can see, it’s much easier to work with small objectives (6 months, 1 year), whereas the long term goals (5, 10 years) allow you to see a bigger picture.

Rule 5: Act. You are what you do, not what you say.

This is crucial, start acting. It’s very cool to have a list with all the things “we want”, “we would like to”, however if there is no action – it is simply a list. It won’t change anything in your life. The magic starts with action.

I invite you to change “I should, I would, I want” – to “I WILL”.

The complete formula would be: I WILL +  (action from our first objective) + by…

For example: I will start practicing English by going to English speaking events, because I want to work in an international environment. I will subscribe to the first English speaking event by 10^th of January.

The key here is to be specific and to set exact date by when it will happen.

Rule 6: Be visible. If you are not seen, you don’t exist.

How do you communicate on your projects, creative initiatives or your experiences to the world? It is crucial to make sure you are seen. You can use personal web-page or blog, attending seminars,  workshops and various networking events might help you to engage new contacts, preparing your professional portfolio, business card – this works! Nowadays we have plenty of opportunities to be visible and to share our work with the world.

I invite you to change your usual response from “Well, it’s Monday, weekend has gone” to “Yes, it’s Monday – let’s do it!”

I invite you to know yourself and your values, I invite you to stay connected with your mission and focus on what matters to you. I invite you to start acting and make baby steps towards where you want to be.

Special thanks goes to my friend and colleague, talented and energetic personal branding expert, Laia Arcones for the practical exercises described above (you can find out more about how to be happy at work at her personal blog: http://estrellasdelmarketing.com ).

Wish you a wonderful week ahead!

With love,

Jelena