The duties of the Coxswain are to provide leadership →
The end of the boat closest to the start line is called the “stern,” and the opposite end pointing toward the finish line is called the “bow.” Coincidentally, the rower closest to the boat’s bow is called the “bow seat.” The seats are numbered from bow to stern, and the bow seat is called the “1 seat.
The leader sits in the stern and is called a Coxswain and is the athlete that steers the boat, calls the race plan, and motivates the rowers. Driving the vessel is done by making minor corrections in the rudder’s direction and ensuring all rowers are equally engaged.
Each rower is numbered by boat position in ascending order from the bow to the stern (except single sculls).
The stroke seat is the most important of the eight rowers. That individual can get everyone behind them and the engine room in a solid rhythm and get them to use their power efficiently. They also have a significant impact on the mentality of the boat.
In an eight-rower boat, each person has one oar—four on port and four on starboard. If one side pulls harder with their oars in the water than the other, the boat turns and tips. The boat tips if one side's oars are raised higher than the other. Every paddler has to drop into the water at the same time.
Self Improvement individually is likely not the key to success for a team; instead, team leadership has more potential value. If one person surprises the others, thinking they are only indulging in self-improvement, they can hurt the team, but the leader can direct coordinated improvement.
Being overwhelmed with stress is a message to find out why you are stressed? →
When you feel pressure, your body will send you a message and let you know. The message is referred to as stress. The pressure comes in a variety of ways. Feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope with life events is felt emotionally or even in your physical responses. You will think you can’t cope with what you are facing, and mental health suffers.
Many different situations or life events can cause stress. It can be triggered when we experience somethingnew unexpectede, threatens our sense of self, o feel we have little control over a situation.
Feelings of Stress Include:
afraid
angry
aggressive
sad
Anxious
defensive
irritable
frustrated
depressed.
Recognizing that stress is being caused by pressure is a first step in working through it, but sometimes you will need help to get past it.
Personal Improvement begins with a desire to be better (the seed for improvement) →
Before you even plant a seed, you have to desire to cultivate it and to have what will grow from it, which is more critical in this process: wanting what the seed can bring, producing the basis, or being patient and staying the course, tending to the source, watering it, and caring for its ability to grow. The world doesn’t lack wannabe gardeners. Just planting seeds is not enough to get the results.
To reach the goals we plant, the essential thing in the process is to stay the course. To get to the desired destination, patience is also needed. Personal improvement is like tending our garden.
Personal improvement requires an effective mission statement that must be an explicit, concise declaration about your business strategy. The information will reflect your life goals when you put together a mission statement for your life.
Reaching the goals and accomplishing the things in the mission statement may or may not happen, but the goal should be to get closer each day. Be better today than you were yesterday. Improve your overall self at least 1% each day.
Don’t be a Pig (selfish): Pigs get Eaten →
It can send a terrible message if you only feel satisfied if you get everything available in a relationship. Be careful not to send a message to those around you that you’re selfish. This is a trap everyone can fall into.
A salesperson with a perfect relationship with a buyer sometimes will ask for business he doesn’t have, with no apparent benefit offered. It can appear to suggest it is just expected because of the relationship. In a similiar situation, I recall a buyer who told this type of salesman:
“Don’t be a pig: pigs get eaten.”
Our selfishness can mean we hurt others as we ruthlessly strive to satisfy our needs. Self-centeredness can damage our reputation and lead to loneliness. It destroys families. Desire may make it easier for us to fall into traps like an addiction.
Solitude can lead to relaxation and reduced stress →
Solitude can lead to relaxation and reduced stress if people choose to be alone. Solitude is the state of being alone without being lonely. Ten minutes a day might be enough to help stress. Living alone in a cabin at the foot of a remote mountain might be too much? ,
“Solitude could lead to relaxation and reduced stress,” a study found, and people who practiced solitude every day for a week experienced a “spillover effect” of having less intense feelings the following week.
Jim Carrey said: “Solitude is dangerous. It's very addictive. It becomes a habit after you realize how calm and peaceful it is. You don’t want to deal with people anymore because they drain your energy.
Nature offers some of the best stress reducing experiences →
Spending time around trees and looking at trees reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and improves mood. Numerous studies show that exercising in forests and simply sitting looking at trees reduces blood pressure and the stress-related hormones cortisol and adrenaline.
In general, the outdoors has a calming effect on us, and it has to do with the fresh air we're inhaling. Breathing is linked to the production of stress hormones. When breathing rapidly, our sympathetic nervous system is activated, and the body is energized for a "fight or flight" response.
What you are seeing, hearing, and experiencing at any moment changes your mood and how your nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are working.
Leadership Matters: If it didn't it would work! →
Leadership is the ability of an individual or group to influence and guide associates, followers, friends, and those they come in contact with, including other members of the organization. Leadership goals are essential and better plans attract people who want to help.
Leadership is not about working towards a goal single-handedly. Leadership is about inspiring and motivating people to work together towards a goal.
My hope for this sub-section under the “Life Development” tag is to focus on “Leadership.”
Leadership Characteristics
Integrity.
Ability to delegate.
Communication.
Self-awareness.
Gratitude.
Learning agility.
Influence.
Empathy
How do you learn good work ethics and how do you convey that you have them? →
Work ethic is a moral principle based on the idea that hard work is fundamentally valuable and worth pursuing. You likely possess other positive traits such as dependability, respectfulness, productivity, and collaboration if you have a strong work ethic.
Work ethics is one of the most critical factors for any professional's success and is a highly positive soft skill. Learning to have a positive work ethic by having good examples and leaders is the primary way it is developed, even though there is some evidence that it may be partially past on by genetics.
Work ethic is an essential Soft Skill based on hard work and diligence. In other words, work ethic is, for the most part, not something we are born with; it’s a learned behavior that becomes part of an individual's values. Like a company's corporate values, they must be taught and modeled daily.
Saying that your father had a good work ethic could mean that you had it passed on to you genetically, but it probably means that by example, at least, your father taught you about work ethics. Of course, talking about your genetic possibility of having a solid work ethic isn’t a good approach in a job interview.
If you find the occasion to talk about your work ethic, a good approach would be to describe yourself as reliable and consistent. You could add that you enjoy your work, and I find it easy to stay motivated and productive. You have also noticed that you feel better at the end of the day when you have had a great, productive day, and you find that I am that rewarding.
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Change is Necessary for Self Improvement to Happen →
Self-improvement only takes place if you have identified your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is essential, from your relationships to those in your career.
Self-assessment and seeing yourself outside of yourself help you better understand what you seek and where you are likely to thrive and excel. It gives you a better understanding of your desire and where you will likely do well.
The change enables you to become the person you want to be. Practicing and enacting change yourself is one of the most rewarding processes you will ever experience. It also displays a particular life skill, the ability to reinvent yourself.
Success requires preparation that starts with understanding your career trajectory, past and future. →
Job interviews require preparation to understand how your career path will be a good fit for a potential job. Your work history implies a particular trajectory, and your goal in an interview will be to convince the potential employer that the path you have been on is a good fit for the path they are offering.
If you expect to ace the interview and accomplish your goal, you must fully understand what is wanted and what is being asked for in the job posting. The way to do that is through preparation and research to learn about the company’s history, mission, and the job details you are applying for. This can include conducting informational interviews to learn about the company and industry.
Some books are especially good at pointing you in the right direction in your job search and offering information on the actual situations in the marketplace and the best approaches. “Work Matters: Insights and Strategies For Job Seekers In This Rapidly Changing Economy” brings together the changes expected for the last few years and the COVID-19 impact with relevant approaches and can help.
#FindingaJob #CareerDevelopment CareerTrajectory #workmatters #jobinterviews
What you do today changes who you are tomorrow. →
Deciding to “Be Somebody” will require introspection to discover who you are. Just taking inventory and doing some severe pondering is a good starting point to find out what you are good at and not good at. Don’t confuse your point of view and conclusions with other people's expectations. Finding out who we are means asking ourselves what our values are, what truly matters to us, and then following the principles we believe in.
Build a list and add the things you are passionate about and the things you love to do. Ask someone you trust and respect for feedback on what you have put down. These are the first steps in knowing who you are, and learning what you want from life is itself part of what real success in life is. Knowing yourself will give you purpose, direction, and a true sense of well-being; that knowledge will change some of the things you do today.
Change anything about today, and you will change tomorrow and your life.
Change who you associate with. Surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth.
7 Ways to Increase Self Esteem and Self Confidence →
Having the confidence to proceed in life requires more than just preparation. Of course, that is very important, but you must believe in yourself to value your practice and take the necessary steps.
7 Ways to Increase Self-Esteem and Self Confidence
1. Volunteering your time, money, or energy to help others doesn’t just improve the world but also makes you better. Studies indicate that the very act of giving back to the community boosts your happiness, health, and sense of well-being
2. Avoid dwelling on past negative experiences
3. Express your needs
4. Feel confident
5. Have a positive outlook on life
6. Say "no" when you want to say no.
7. See overall strengths and weaknesses and accept them
Why is Work Ethics a Soft Skill? →
Soft skills are those things that make you a good worker and include people skills, manners, emotional intelligence, and your ability to communicate and interact with others effectively. These skills are often self-taught and self-developed. Unlike hard skills, they are not specific to an industry or job.
Hard skills refer to employees' job-related knowledge and abilities to perform their duties effectively.
Research shows that a good work ethic is the number one soft skill sought by employers. This soft skill is linked to improved performance and a greater likelihood of career advancement, which are essential to your job satisfaction level.
Maybe you thought just being in the race was enough? Well, you can be in the race, but unless you finish, one might say the race wasn't in you. Finishing the race is how it is remembered. Work Ethics is finishing what you start.
LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends report found that 92 percent of hiring professionals say soft skills matter more than hard skills. Employers seek out employees they can trust to represent the company in a professional and friendly way.
You will not likely get good feedback on how effective you are using or not using your soft skills in your employment reviews. Even when these measures are in place, soft skills are still considered intangibles and seldom discussed. Most people don’t know how to talk about them and aren’t comfortable doing so. People with gaps in their soft skills are often blindsided the first time they hear that there’s a problem. They’re given vague feedback like “you’re just not a people person” or “we need someone who shows more leadership.” Then they’re left to their own devices to try and figure out what that means and how to fix it. They’re mostly confused because something that’s never been quantified feels arbitrary, personal, and optional.
Stick to your Task,
by Anonymous
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place, and praise
Will come, in time, to the one who stays.
Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too
2 Most Important Skills for Success →
These skills can be called “Soft Skills,” but they are the most important and often neglected. A person can have many other skills, but these are important.
#1 is showing up!
#2 is showing up on time
These skills set you apart if you don’t have them. Everybody else on the team is impacted when you are late or don’t show up, and it makes you the least important person when it happens.
These two things create the image of many things. They suggest you are trustworthy, loyal, and can be counted on.
How much debt is ok & 7 Ways to reduce Debt →
One way to determine how much debt you should have is to see what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends? They suggest you keep your debt-to-income ratio below 43%. No more than 43 percent of your gross monthly income is needed to pay your fixed debts, including your mortgage and other car loans. The 43% suggestion is higher than what most lenders ask for. They prefer to see a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 36%, with no more than 28% of that debt going towards servicing your mortgage.
A loss of income or increased living costs or expenses can cause a household debt crisis. The biggest reason for unexpected debt is medical expenses, which generate half of all bankruptcies in the United States.
Sometimes married couples leave paying the bills to just one team member even though both have a regular impact on the spending. It is important to remember that when married, it isn’t your money. It is our money. If an agreement is never reached on how much debt to carry and the importance of paying promptly, problems follow.
Be aware of all the bills and the total owed. If you are locked into a higher cost of living than you can afford, you have to increase your income or lower expenses. You may have to sell the house, move into a smaller one, or drive a less expensive car. A second job can get you out of debt faster, but if it takes two appointments to maintain your lifestyle, it reduces your costs unless you like working two jobs. Once you understand your debt-to-income ratio and make the apparent change, you will likely need some suggestions to reduce your debt, and here are some additional ways.
7 Ways to Reduce Debt
Make a list of all your debts and income
Lower your interest rates
Pay more than you have to pay to reduce debt
Earn more money (Take a 2nd job)
Spend less money
Create a budget for short & long term
Lower your costs: Less expensive house and car.
