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Career Tips - Issue # 8 (Jan. 2005) FREE bimonthly newsletter dedicated to your career development. It will take about 10 minutes to digest this newsletter. This investment will pay off if your reading is followed by thinking and action. I love Mondays Thirty years ago, he started as a normal employee with the securities trading firm Salomon Brothers. Today, he employs 8000 people. His empire includes online financial news, a wired news service, news radio and a 24-hour satellite television network. His company has presence in over 100 countries. His business continues to grow rapidly while he enjoys being the Mayor of the city of New York. Yes, he is Michael Bloomberg. He is the same man who once had no clue about the work he wanted to do. He is the same man who was once on the road when he got fired by Salomon Brothers after working there for fifteen years. Did he plan to become an entrepreneur? He says he had trouble filling out the part of the college application forms where they ask you about your vision for the next ten years. Was he an intellectual power house during his academic years? He admits being a mediocre student. So what is the secret of Bloomberg's success? It is "I love Mondays." Says Bloomberg in his autobiography "Bloomberg by Bloomberg": "Sunday night was my favourite because I knew when I awoke the next morning, I'd have full five days of fun at the office. Work was, is, and always will be a very big part of my life. I love it." Bloomberg offers a simple recipe for success: "Do something to make your work fun, interesting, challenging and exciting. You've got to be happy at your job." >>CAREER TIP: Thousand of Mondays come and go in everyone's career. But few people look forward to Mondays. Most people feel slightly depressed on Sunday evening rather than feeling excited. Tweak your work. Tweak your attitude. Tweak the place you work for, if necessary. Do whatever but try to come to a stage where you too can say, "I love Mondays," if you're already not saying so. No degree, no qualification, no experience can match the force of love for one's work. Write it down! It was probably one of the shortest but most lucrative management consultancy projects. Around the turn of the last century, Ivy Lee, an efficiency expert, approached Bethlehem Steel and gave its president, Charles Schwab, an irresistible offer. He told Schwab that he could increase the efficiency of Bethlehem's executives if he was allowed to speak to them for just fifteen minutes. As for his fee, he asked for nothing upfront. He left it to Schwab to assess his fee based on the results after three months. "Alight, a deal. Go ahead, "Schwab told Lee. As per his proposal, Lee started meeting Bethlehem Steel's top executives, spending only fifteen minutes with each of them. Three months later, Schwab was astounded by the results of Lee's fifteen minutes meetings with his executives. He was so pleased that he immediately sent Lee a check for thirty-five thousand dollars. It was a huge sum of money in an era when an average worker was paid about two dollars for a ten-hour day. So what was Lee's golden advice to the executives? In essence, he told each executive: 1. Before leaving the office, make a list of six most important things you have to do the next day. 2. Priortise the items according to their importance. 3. Next day, strike off each item once you finish it and move to the next one. 4. If you can't finish anything from the list, include it in the next day's list. That's all! He requested them to stick to the above practice for the next ninety days. They did and their efficiency went soaring. >>CAREER TIP: If you carefully observe, you may find majority of the people don't write what they wish to accomplish during the day. Most people prefer to rely on memory. And those who do write rarely plan for the next day. They would come to office and then decide what to do. If you wish to increase your own efficiency, give Lee's formula a try. For the next two weeks (if not ninety days), write down the next day's agenda before leaving office and prioritise it. And then stick to it. To make your life even cosier, help your colleagues to do the same. Will be back after two weeks. Wish you a great year ahead. Atul Mathur FORWARD IT: Would you like to share what you've just read with any of your friends? Click below to send a link to your friends. To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, send a blank e-mail to:subscribe Career Tips ***Copyright 2005 Atul Mathur*** |
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