6 Steps To Kickstart Your Career As A University Freshman

So, you and your parents have just invested a significant amount of money for your university education. As a freshman, what can you do to make sure you get your money’s worth? How will you assure a return on your investment (ROI)?

Step 1: Get Organized

Developing a strong, structured time management routine is crucial to being successful in college. Your first semester will set the tone for your following four years. It is imperative that you establish a strong GPA that first semester because maintaining a high GPA is much easier than trying to bring up a low one.

Being organized will also keep you healthy, reduce your stress levels, and prevent fatigue.

Work on maximizing your time between the hours of 8am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. Take advantage of free time between classes to work on homework, projects, career development, and exercise. This will free up your evenings and weekends for additional activities, rest, and relaxation. Then, spend a few hours at the end of your weekend to review and plan for the following week.

Step 2: Schedule Monthly Meetings With A Career Coach Because career development is a process that takes as many semesters as your established major, scheduling career coaching appointments monthly will benefit you tremendously. Every college has a career development office. Locate it and visit your first semester. Then, establish a relationship with this office

and keep consistent appointments with a career coach. He/she will help you plan out your professional

development goals for each semester.

If you do not do this, you will not be educated on how to transition from student to professional. Would you dare wait until your final semester of college to visit your professors, attend class, and follow through with your major requirements for graduation? Of course not! So, why would you dare make the mistake of doing this with your career development?

Step 3: Engage In Your Career Development

The majority of students who fail to attend and participate in career development events do so because

they choose not to engage and prioritize this development. Again, it is imperative that students educate

themselves on how to transition from student to professional. Establish and keep consistent appointments with a career coach so you can identify professional interests, build strategies for out of classroom experiences, identify strong, mentor-based internships, and establish a strong professional brand. Learning to be professional starts freshman year, not senior year.

Step 4: Investigate Extra Curricular Activities

Once you have identified professional interests, it is time to celebrate those interests and meet others who have those same interests. This is where extra curricular activities come in. As a freshman, finding a community that celebrates these same interests will help you learn more about yourself, your goals and passions, and your interpersonal style. College provides an abundance of clubs and activities for students to choose from, so investigate these choices and participate starting your freshman year. This will set the

stage for future leadership opportunities within these clubs or activities and will help strengthen your

professional interests.

Step 5: Create Your LinkedIn Profile

Establishing a professional on line presence begins freshman year. Yes, students need to clean up their Facebook page and even lock it down, if preferred. However, the main focus freshman year, is to establish your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a professional networking site every bit as relevant to first year college students as it is to seasoned professionals.

The difference is in the strategies used by freshman versus seasoned professionals. Freshman can research

alumni, learn about their majors and subsequent careers, research those careers and the companies in which they work and learn tons about the professional world. And, the career development coaches and staff can assist freshman in building their profiles and using the site strategically.

Step 6: Get A Mentor

Because your first year in college is a huge transition, it can be a tremendous help to build a relationship with someone a bit ahead of you. Someone who has recently been in your shoes, can guide you, give you advice and support you through this transition. This is where mentoring comes in. Ask the career development office if they can assist you in locating a mentor. Alumni can be fabulous mentors for freshman and a career coach can assist you in making connections with alumni through LinkedIn.

These are six easy steps to accomplish during your freshman year. Remember, you have made a significant financial investment to attend college, so follow these steps and you will be on your way to gaining a huge ROI.

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21 powerful lessons to remember in life

Yesterday is a beautiful reflection. Today is a new beginning. Tomorrow is a limitless possibility. On my birthday am sharing 21 life lessons i have experienced while living.

life lessons

1. Never give up on anything. Miracle's happen everyday.

2. It is better to strive for excellence than perfection.

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HOW TO WIN OVER YOUR FEARS

If you really want to do something
you will always find a way.
But if you don't want to do it,
you will find execuses.

win over your fears

The easiest way to combat fear is by not using excuses. Instead, you need to look for positive approaches to accomplish your goal. If you want to start a business, attend a meeting at the Better Business Bureau. Read some national magazines like "Income Opportunities" or "Spare Time." Start reading the business section of your newspaper. Gather some ideas and do a little reading before actually jumping into a business. Surely you can find some spare time to read. Also, begin associating yourself with people who are in their own business already. If you're afraid to go out and make new friends, attend local business-related seminars in your community. Start watching television shows that are related to business. You'll eventually find people to associate with who know others and you'll be the part of a new crowd - the motivating ones! 

FEAR is always your enemy. Look at it this way: If you never try, FEAR wins by 100%. However, if you do try, FEAR only has a chance of winning by 50%. If you needed a place to live and only had $10 to your name would you allow FEAR to win and make you homeless? No, most of us would find a job or borrow the money to have a roof over our heads! FEAR is the root of failure, depression and lifelong problems. Are you going to let FEAR ruin your life? FEAR also will cause you to lose out on many other things in life. If you FEAR the boss at work is going to fire you _ it will naturally be on your mind day in and day out. It will eventually wear you down and you will begin making mistakes on the job. You will also get depressed and build up resentments that may have never been there in the first place. Facing FEAR head on is the best way to combat it. If you think the boss is going to fire you _ go up and ask him. It takes guts, but isn't it better than putting yourself through many months of agonizing torture? Are you full of so much FEAR to even ask him because you think it will trigger him to say "yes" when he might not have been considering it at all? Believe me _ asking a boss "if" they are thinking about firing you will put you in no different position than you are now. In fact _ it will have the opposite effect. The boss will more than likely respect you for your candidness and ability to face FEAR head-on. Is FEAR holding you back from a lot of things? Are you afraid to confront people and tell them how you really feel? Do you smile in their face and talk about them behind their back? What's so hard about being truthful but using tact? Doesn't it get rid of FEAR and solve many problems? Complaining is also an act that emotionally drains you and goes hand-in-hand with FEAR. In fact, FEAR is normally the root of any complaint. People don't want to admit their FEAR so they will complain to release some tension. This is a crazy merry-go-round! Instead of complaining, try to find ways to solve the problem.

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TIPS TO BUILDING SELF CONFIDENCE AND SELF DISCOVERY

Lets drive to the meaning of the term confidence.

Confidence is the ability to perform to a certain standards. It is synonymous to self assuredness. Confidence is also seen as the belief in the ability of other people.

UNCOVERING YOUR CONFIDENCE

Most people lack self confidence because they failed to direct or connect to what is important to them.  When you connect yourself to what is important to you and what you value. People failed to believe in themselves because they consider what other people think about them more prominence than what they think about themselves.

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Watch out, These Nine Obstacles can hinder you from Creative Thinking

These are nine obstacles to creative thinking i will be sharing with you. Each of them may apply to yourself or someone you know. Any one of them, if you fail to recognize and remove it, can hold you back. 

1. Lack of Direction
The first obstacle to creative thinking is the lack of clear goals and objectives, written down, accompanied by detailed, written plans of action. When you become crystal clear about what you want, and how you are going to achieve it, your creative mind springs to life. You immediately begin to sparkle with ideas and insights that help you to move forward.

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10 Golden Rules In Safety To Work Successfully In Construction And Oil And Gas

There are many cases of incident and accident in the construction sites even in the offices as a result of not adhering to safety precautions. Below are 10 golden rules to help us work in safely.

1. work planning: Before commencing any task, it is worthwhile to adequately state the task procedures and associated hazards.

2. Work permit: in oil and gas sector or any construction site, it is advised that all personnel should make sure they have their work permit before carrying out any task. work permit is a document that states down the procedures and risks associated to a task.

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Dealing with procrastination! 10 Tips To Help You Boost Productivity &Overcome Procrastination

1. Accept the fact that there simply isn’t enough time to do everything. That’s why it’s so important to work on the most important things. If you’re always focused on the important things, both in your business and personal life, you’ll always be making the greatest contribution by using your time wisely.

2. Establish a relaxed state of mind. Keep calm. Stay focused on what you have to do. Ignore everything else. Too much additional stress can make the whole task that much more challenging. Your mental state is something you can control. Don’t let outside pressures get to you. Understand what must be done and do it in a calm, relaxed, self-assured manner.

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Effective time management in achieving tasks

Lots of books,  blogs and seminars have addressed the issue of time management. In this article i will explore the various tips for effective time management.

Time management is the effective and efficient utilization of time resources to maximize results or achieve tasks. Time they said is money,  therefore adequate carefulness should be pay in time usage as it waits for no one.

Below are tips to guide you:

1.  Identify important values.. 
Base your plans on your priorities, taking into account your way of working. You might find it useful to plan first your week, then your day:

*.Identify which tasks will help you achieve your goals, and allocate your time accordingly.

*.Delegate work if other people can do it as well, or more quickly, cheaply or effectively.

*.Ensure other people know what they need to achieve each day.

*.Divide the principal tasks for the day into achievable blocks of work.

*.Tackle them one at a time.

2. Setting deadlines.
Remember every task or goal must have a measurable time to be achieved. Set deadlines to your tasks and dare to complete.
Schedule your work to suit your temperament at different times of the day or week. Determine whether your deadline is a fixed or flexible one. Don't allow minor work or task to take longer than it should.

3.  Minimising distractions
However carefully you prioritise the use of your time, your attempts to manage it efficiently will be undermined unless you can find effective ways of dealing with distractions:

*.Manage mail at the beginning of the day. It may have a bearing on your activities during the rest of the day and you will be in a position to deal quickly with any subsequent queries.

*.Limit the time spent on each call, and differentiate calls from VIPs, regular contacts and time wasters.

*.Avoid unproductive and inefficient meetings. Agree on start and finish times in advance and establish an agenda.

*.Use email as a less intrusive form of communication and pick up your messages when it suits you, rather than having to respond immediately. Be careful not to cut yourself off completely, or you could stifle the flow of ideas and creativity from your colleagues and contacts.

4. Employ the use of time management tools.
Time management tools such as diary, computerised calendar and alarms are important for effective time utilization.

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Steps to boost your self esteem and confidence

Low self-esteem can negatively affect virtually every facet of your life, including your relationships, your job and your health. But you can take steps to boost your self-esteem by taking cues from types of mental health counseling.
Consider these steps, based on cognitive behavioral therapy:

1. Identify troubling conditions or situations

Think about the conditions or situations that seem to deflate your self-esteem. Common triggers might include:

• A work or school presentation

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Combating Stage fright.

Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially (for example, when performing before a camera). In the context of public speaking, this may precede or accompany participation in any activity involving public self-presentation.

The fear of public speaking or performance, often called stage fright, exacts a huge toll on self-confidence and self-esteem and causes some people to leave school or a job or pass up a promotion. Many, including seasoned professional performers, suffer in silent terror. And because they feel embarrassed, people try to keep their fear a secret, even from a spouse or other close family members or friends.

From Anxiety and Depression Association of America, below are ten tips to conquer stage phobia

1. Shift the focus from yourself and your fear to your true purpose—contributing something of value to your audience.

2. Stop scaring yourself with thoughts about what might go wrong. Instead, focus your attention on thoughts and images that are calming and reassuring.

3. Refuse to think thoughts that create self-doubt and low confidence.

4. Practice ways to calm and relax your mind and body, such as deep breathing, relaxation exercises, yoga, and meditation.

5. Exercise, eat well, and practice other healthful lifestyle habits. Try to limit caffeine, sugar, and alcohol as much as possible.

6. Visualize your success: Always focus on your strength and ability to handle challenging situations.

7. Prepare your material in advance and read it aloud to hear your voice.

8. Make connections with your audience: Smile and greet people, thinking of them as friends rather than enemies.

9. Stand or sit in a self-assured, confident posture. Remain warm and open and make eye contact.

10. Give up trying to be perfect and know that it is OK to make mistakes. Be natural, be yourself.

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