Learning to Relax at Work

Focus upon your breathing

To start, close your eyes and focus your attention upon your breathing. Listen to the soft whistling sound as the air flows in and flows out. Be sure that you are belly breathing—your belly should be moving in and out as you breathe.

After about a minute or two of concentrating on your breathing, start counting sequentially from one to ten as you inhale and saying to yourself, RELAX as you exhale. For example, on the first inhalation, say ONE and see the number one being drawn in your mind. On exhalation, say RELAX and see the word RE–LA-X-X-X . . . in your mind. Continue the counting process until you feel quiet and your mind is focused and undisturbed by intruding thoughts.

Workplace Listening Skills

Workplace listening skills can be important in many different ways. For example, listening and understanding your initial instructions about how to do your job is critical. Good listeners work actively at the listening process. Their eyes and ears are attending and receiving information and their minds are working at understanding what is being communicated. Questions such as, Is this important? If so, how? should be continually considered during important meetings and conferences. Workplace messages could be straightforward instructions, or they could be more complicated types of communication, such as an obtuse interaction between several people. No matter what the content, if you want to communicate well, you must master the listening process. Here are a few pointers about how to listen better.

Pass on Tips of Remuneration Reviews

Gone are the days when you could automatically pass on cost increases to your customers through your product selling price. So it is essential that all increases in wages and salaries are justifiable, properly controlled and if possible self- financing.

Account for the total increase in your wages and salaries bill from one year to another

Many companies find that the total wage bill can increase in a year by an amount far greater than the rate increase warrants. It would be wise to find out why there is such a discrepancy. Of course there are plenty of good reasons for wage drift but you should know what they are and then act to control the situation. The additional cost should be analysed into increases in rates, numbers employed, overtime worked, bonus earnings, changes in labour mix etc by age, grade and so on.

Insurance Consumer Review Guide, no more trick

In the merchandised market, insurance as a product, insurance brokers weight their pocket more important than your consideration. We normally stay in two situations: over insured or under insured.

How to avoid such situations? We need to review our insurance carefully to avoid necessary tricks by referring the 9 Insurance Consumer Review Guides:

1. Insure adequately

The scope of your insurance cover is a matter of judgment which will be influenced by the insurance broker and the insurance companies. However, too much influence may result in over-caution and a higher premium cost than necessary. A well-balanced view of the degree of risk you to take is essential.

Pressure at Work? Promoted by Positive thinking

For convenience, imagine yourself starting your workday, then being at work, and finally leaving work at the end of the day. Read my suggestions and see if some of the points might apply to help you to become a more positive person, prior to, during and after work.

Before work:

• On waking each workday, think about the most interesting and exciting part of the forthcoming day. Do not accept the response, `Nothing!’.
• Before getting out of bed, say something to yourself like, ‘I will make the most of my abilities today!’.

• When dressing, consider wearing clothing which is different—something which may evoke positive remarks and compliments from workmates. A positive remark can put some brightness into a grey day.

Dealing Office Crisis: Advancing assertively

For people like me at work, assertiveness has particularly important significance, as it is a quality which helps me to communicate more effectively and hopefully achieve my goals.

It is very important to be able to stand and be heard, whether the situation is a promotion interview or a refusal to an unfair request. To remain silent under these circumstances can create strong feelings of anger inside and erode the individual’s self-confidence. Some other situations which often require assertiveness at the workplace are:

• Communicating your thoughts and feelings directly and honestly.
• Saying, Yes to new work opportunities and possibilities which you wish to try.
• Giving compliments to others.
• Receiving compliments from others.

Fired my Job, let’s rock Career Changing

Do you often .. .

• Question whether you should pursue a new career?
• Back away too quickly from new occupational possibilities because of family obligations and responsibilities?
• Dream about being in your own business?
• Hold back from updating your resume?
• Fear getting dismissed from your job?
• Think that retirement will be the ideal solution to all or most of your work worries?

People who are unhappy at work can dwell upon the types of issues listed above. This will address some practical approaches whereby you can deal with job distress, instead of worrying about it. The issues to be discussed include: preparing for a possible career change; drafting your resume; considering starting your own business; coping with dismissal; and planning for retirement.

Raising Business Consciousness

An Eastern allegory compares Man to a house full of servants whose master and head steward are absent. As the servants forget their roles and do what they like, with no co-ordination, the house ends up in complete chaos. The only possibility for things to improve is for a number of servants to agree to appoint a deputy steward. The elected steward can then command the other servants to do the right work in the right place. There is then every possibility of the head steward returning to replace the deputy and to prepare the house for the master’s return. The master can be likened to your true self, which can only appear when the level of consciousness of knowing who you are has been attained. As the unified true self once more takes command from your disunited conditioned self, you no longer feel the need to compartmentalise everything to fit previous preconceptions.

Survival the Economic Downturn, I learn to Minimize my Cost

Reduce Packing and Freight Cost

Exporting companies need cost-effective packing and packaging in order to be competitive in world markets. Freight costs are based on volumes or weights and manufacturers can pay unnecessarily for thin air because of ineffective packaging.

1. Design products with freight costs in mind

Where possible product design should result in the smallest and lightest package to reduce freight costs. This can include products for local part assembly or completely knocked down. Local assembly costs can be less than freight costs and have the added attraction of providing some local participation.

Facing the Fear of Honesty

The moral and ethical situations that we encounter in both our personal and professional lives are important opportunities for us to choose between fear and its opposite, love. Having the courage of your convictions stems from how much you like _yourself. Before continuing, reflect on the following. On a percentage scale of one to one hundred, how much do you like yourself>

Identifying our fears is usually the easiest part; it is confronting them that is difficult. If we peel back the layers of our fears far enough, we will often discover that their main source lies in our belief that we feel we are not worthy or lovable. A form of ‘honour amongst thieves’ leads us to misguidedly believe that ‘ratting’ on the wrong actions of another is a crime. Speaking up for yourself is not about collaboration with the enemy. Tribal associations of ‘not telling tales’ follow us from school through to social and work dilemmas. In allowing the creation of such fears we directly affect our own self-worth. Indeed, the majority of abuses, physical, emotional or mental, remain unknown, or continue, because of prior conditioning to keep quiet about them.