Looking Ahead-2015 continued

I'm feeling very hopeful and very excited about the new opportunities available this year.

Another blog post for the new year came from YourTango entitled, "10 career resolutions every smart woman needs to make in 2015."

So let's see what it says:

1. Stop talking about your coworkers to other coworkers.

I am so not fond of talking about other people with other people.  Being in HR, there are a lot of things that are considered confidential and so I feel it's a waste of time to talk about other people unless it has something to do with an evaluation.  Not that I practice abstinence from doing such things.  It has happened but I have been resolving not to do it anymore because it really is a waste of time and energy.  Unless it is something to celebrate.  For example, when someone goes on vacation, I would love to hear about it and talk about it with other people.

2.  Start being nice to everyone in your field.

I consider myself an extrovert up to a point.  Tests that I've taken have also verified that claim.  I have to be an extrovert when I make presentations or go to interviews.  So this comes to the idea being nice everyone in your field.  I know that there are people out there helping me find a job and I really appreciate it.  I try to follow the protocol with thank you notes or e-mails, smile and speak clearly.

I don't consider myself a spiteful person for the most part.  If someone under me or at my level receives recognition, bonus, or promotion, I feel that there a lot of things I may not know.  If the person was under me and I trained them,  I feel like I was a part of that and feel good knowing that someone I trained has moved up. 

I feel that people who are more experienced than me are people I can learn from.  I'm very anxious to learn in my career and I want to do the best that I can knowing that there are a lot of examples for me.

Again, I'm not perfect and not every situation has been lovey-dovey.  There have been some conflicts of interest.  I think most the time it was misunderstandings which when I go back and analyze what happened.

I do have one rule now.  A lot of people want to connect right away on LinkedIn or Facebook.  To protect myself, my rule now is that I will not connect to someone I know at work until I been there a month.

3. Get as organized as possible and clean your desk.

There are times when people constantly put files on your desk.  Hopefully your desk is as big as it needs to be to get all the paperwork on your desk.  I'm a stickler for organization although it's not always a pretty sight.  What I could control, I could keep organized.  I'm all about containers, trays, and pens in a holder.  I do like to decorate my desk but if I am temporary or sharing, I don't like to add more to the desk.  I had a really nice compliment at one of my previous positions where the person sharing my desk told me that the desk was the cleanest he had ever seen since moving to the office.

To me, it's hard to function if things are scattered all over your desk.  My mind functions better with organization than in chaos.  When things are organized and prioritized, it's easy to get work done.  Not that every day is a walk through the park.  Every day adds new adventure and new experiences.  In business though, your whole schedule could be changed in the blink of an eye.  I thrive on that because I can get things organized and done.  I feel I'm accomplished.

4. Speak up more.

I don't have a problem saying what I need to say.  But I do measure the action coming towards me.  I had a situation where a person confronted me about my work and in their opinion it wasn't what they wanted.  I just apologized.  But I also said that I'm sorry that you feel that way because I feel like I've done the best I could in one day.  I did say what I needed without causing frustration because I could already tell the person was angry, blaming, and frustrated.  I wasn't going to add to the frustration and confront someone.  That type of a person is not ready to talk sensibly and maturely.  You do have to measure is the situation and do the best you can.

But there are times when you should speak up for what you want.  It could be as little as, I need a new keyboard.  I was in a position where I did all the ordering for any type of supplies for the company and I've loved it.  Someone needed a whiteboard, I ordered it.  Some wanted milk for the cappuccino, I went and got it.  When companies take the time to listen to the little needs of their employees, the employees feel that a company is really taking care of them and they will perform their job better.  Employees will feel that this is a great place to work because even the littlest things are taken care of.  It's a great lesson I learned from my contract job.

5.  Fight for what you deserve.

That is going to be a new one for me.  I don't usually have to fight for a promotion but then I've never really worked in a situation where I was up against somebody else.  But every day I am fighting for a position.  I am doing everything that I know how to do without looking desperate.

6. Get to work early.

Surprisingly, I haven't had a problem in my last few jobs.  It was nice to know that I actually got to work before some of the bosses.  My last contract job, I was on the last person to come in because everybody else had to come in at six.  I didn't have to come until eight.  But I intend to keep up the good work that I've done in arriving early.  I used to think that sitting around, coming to work early was a waste of time because I hate waiting around doing nothing.  With the Internet now, I can do my own stuff and read until work starts or until I can start my work.  There are some places you cannot start work early.  Just as long as I'm not late.  Being late is very stressful.  I feel like when I was late to work, it made me feel like I owed the company more and then I would stay late to make up the time.  And that still didn't make me feel any better.  

7.  And leave on time as well

This will also be a new one.  I've never seen anyone who works salary or manage leave on time.  But the reason the blog states is really important and I think it's something I am going to try to do, too.  It states that if you can't leave on time, you are not managing your time well.  I understand sometimes there are extra projects that come along.  In one situation I had, we had happy hour and I didn't want to leave on time.  It's something that we all just accept nowadays; not leaving on time, burning the midnight oil.  Yet, companies don't want to pay overtime.  Unless I'm actually salary, that could be a lot of costs to a company.  

8. And actually take your lunch break.

I have a real hard time with this.  If I know that I have a lot of work or I know that it would be really busy, lunchtime seems to be a luxury.  But I think that it's probably a good reason to take that break, to re-energize yourself, and to allow yourself a detachment from your work.  Many times I find myself stuck with the problem and after knocking my head all night, I will go to sleep and realize all I needed was some sleep to answer my question.  So I think the same thing happens with lunch times, too.  I intend to keep that with my goals this year.

9. Don't settle into a job, push yourself.

I have to have a job in order to push myself in a job.  I am looking for a career with new experiences so I'm hoping that the job I choose will offer me those experiences.  I found another blog that mentioned ways that you can really push yourself and maybe I'll write about that one later.  It had some really good ideas that I never thought about and that I should put into practice this year.

10. Learn to love your job and if not look for something else.

Now that I have finally settled on a career path, the next is to find a company that offers growth and experience.  I know that as long as I don't feel stagnant which has happened to me before, not recently though, that I will feel there is potential for me and for the company.  As soon as I feel that I have nowhere else to go, I'll look for something else.

So there you have it.  My thoughts about the 10 things you have to be serious as a woman, and probably a man, too, in a career this year.  I see at least three potential changes in my life and it all has to do with better time management.