Don't Waste Your Life... Test Your Career Goals

Don't Waste Your Life... Test Your Career Goals

(Article written by Bruce Kasanoff originally for Linkedin.com - can be found here)

If I told you that the first person to discover a pink manatee would become an instant millionaire, you probably wouldn't drop everything and start searching. You are smart enough not to believe in pink manatees, and you realize there are much more sensible ways for you to succeed.

In other words, you did a quick reality check and avoided running off on a ridiculous quest for success.
Are you being as logical with your own career? There's one way to find out.

Test your goals.

The way to separate possible goals from impossible ones is to test them, in a modest way, and see what happens.

If you want to be a standup comedian, write a routine and test it in front of your friends. If that works, perform at an open mic night. If you want to write songs, write songs... then see if you can get people to stay in the room when you sing them.

If you want to go to grad school, take a graduate level course and see how well you like it.
You may be an extraordinarily gifted designer, but if you have no business sense whatsoever you will likely fail without a business partner. If this description fits you, your first test should be to see if you can convince a smart business person to collaborate with you.

If you think you can handle a much bigger job, privately test your ability to handle the job's biggest challenges. For example, write a strategic plan - masking any confidential details - and show it to a few people (outside the company) whose opinion you trust.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, build a prototype and see if anyone wants to buy it. Even better, get feedback from potential customers, then use that feedback to refine your product. When customers actually buy your product, then - and only then - will you know you are on the right track.

Slow down!

It can be easy to move too fast. You may hate your current job, or be incredibly excited by the potential of your dream. You could be tempted to quit your job before designing a product or selling it to anyone. You might want to raise money before talking to potential customers. Maybe you want to act first, and think later.
In other words, you'd like to skip the boring stuff like thinking, planning, and testing.

If you pursue your dreams without testing them, you risk wasting years of your life. Don't chase pink manatees; always test the waters before jumping in.

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More from Bruce Kasanoff: Bruce has three free ebooks available for download at Kasanoff.com. He is the author with Michael Hinshaw of Smart Customers, Stupid Companies; you can read the Introduction and first chapter for free.

 

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Image credit: Manatee sketch by Tamara Fuchinsky.



The Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness

The Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness

(Article written by Gretchen Rubin / Original article can be found here)

In my study of happiness, I’ve labored to identify its fundamental principles. Because I get a tremendous kick out of the numbered lists that pop up throughout Buddhism (the Triple Refuge, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the eight auspicious symbols), I decided to dub these fundamental principles as my Eight Splendid Truths.

Each one of these truths sounds fairly obvious and straightforward, but each was the product of tremendous thought. Take the Second Splendid Truth—it’s hard to exaggerate the clarity I gained when I finally managed to put it into words. Here they are:

First Splendid Truth
To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.

Second Splendid Truth
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy;
One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

Third Splendid Truth
The days are long, but the years are short. (Click here to see my one-minute movie; of everything I’ve written about happiness, I think this video resonates most with people.)

Fourth Splendid Truth
You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
(Many argue the opposite case. John Stuart Mill, for example, wrote, “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.” I disagree.)

Fifth Splendid Truth
I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.

Sixth Splendid Truth
The only person I can change is myself.

Seventh Splendid Truth
Happy people make people happy, but
I can’t make someone be happy, and
No one else can make me happy.

Eighth Splendid Truth
Now is now. (For more on this truth, read the last chapter of Happier at Home. I love writing endings, and if I may say so, endings are my forte, and this is the best ending I've ever written.)
What did I miss? What Splendid Truth is missing from that list?

Now I’m trying to come up with my personal eight auspicious symbols for happiness. Let’s see—bluebird, ruby slippers, dice, blood, bird house, treasure box, roses…hmmm. I will have to keep thinking about that.

• Are you reading Happier at Home or The Happiness Project in a book group? Email me if you'd like the one-page discussion guide. Or if you're reading it in a spirituality book club, a Bible study group, or the like, email me for the spirituality one-page discussion guide. And if you'd like to join my book club (each month, I pick one book about happiness, one work of children's literature, one eccentric pick), sign up here.

(Photo: groundswell, Flickr)



What's in a Name? Letters. Each Additional One Costing You $3,700 Annually!

On a First-name Basis with Success? Your Mom Chose Your Name Wisely.

(Click the above link to view the original article written by Daniel Cronyn is the director of consumer marketing)

Happy Mother’s Day! (Sorta). In celebration of all the hard-working mothers out there, we recently conducted a study to see if the names they choose for their children could have possibly dictated their future success in the workplace. First, we analyzed data around first names from TheLadders’ nearly 6 million members against variables such as industry, salary level, and location. We wanted to prove the null hypothesis that what your mother names you makes a difference.

Second, we populated a few lists, hoping they would generate some additional questions. We started by aggregating and sorting names that were at the top of each list:

Top five C-level names, by gender, in ratio to their overall frequency:

Top five highest-paid names:

Both lists are normalized for frequency (not just absolute counts) giving a ratio of [C-level first names]/[all first names]. Here are a few quick takeaways:

• Christine was the only name that showed up on both the top five C-level and highest paid lists
• The top 10, highest-paid, C-level executive names earn, on average, 10% more than other names
• The top 25 most-popular names make about $7,000 more, on average, than the rest of the list
• Females make, on average, 22% less than their male counterparts in all comparisons

One point we noticed was that shorter names seemed to be higher ranked across all categories and metrics, so we investigated further. It turns out we were right, and there is a correlation between the number of letters in your name and the average salary:

Doing a simple linear regression, it looks like every additional letter added to your name accounts for a $3,600 drop in annual salary. One exception is names with seven letters, like Stephen, but closer inspection showed that seven-letter names lend themselves to males over females, so it’s higher paid males over-indexing and inflating the seven-letter bucket.

This surprising trend of shorter names led us to look at nicknames, and test whether Williams truly make less money than Bills. We looked at every abbreviation and nickname we could identify; here is a summary of results in the “Nickname versus Proper Name” head-to-head death match (gold stars for the winners):

All the shorter names earn more. Our test included 24 pairings, and in only one case (Lawrence vs. Larry) did the longer name win. Still not convinced? The definitive proof for this theory can be seen in Sara vs. Sarah, Michele vs. Michelle, or Philip vs. Phillip –  one letter less positively correlates with increased salary.

In conclusion, it DOES make a difference what your mother named you. So, to all prospective mothers, our advice is to keep Baby’s name short and sweet – your child will thank you when they’re raking in the money one day.

Want to Boost Your Self-Esteem? Throw Away Someone Else’s Trash. Just Because.

Want to Boost Your Self-Esteem? Throw Away Someone Else’s Trash. Just Because.

(Article written by Gretchen Rubin, www.happiness-project.com, article originally posted on Linkedin.com and can be found here)

Self-esteem is a topic that has generated a fair amount of controversy over the last few decades, but one thing seems clear: you don’t get healthy self-esteem from constantly telling yourself how great you are, or even from other people telling you how great you are.

You do boost your self-esteem when you keep a difficult resolution, meet a challenge, solve a problem, learn a skill, or cross something unpleasant off your to-do list. And one of the best ways to feel better about yourself is to help someone else. Do good, feel good.

I had a friend who went through a period of tremendous rejection: she was fired from her job, she was rejected from a graduate program, and her boyfriend broke up with her. Everything worked out fine, and I asked her how she got through such a tough time. She said, “I was practically addicted to doing good deeds. It was the only way I could make myself feel like I wasn’t a total loser.”

I recently performed a very small good deed that gave me a boost: I threw away someone else’s trash. I’ve always been careful to throw away my own litter, but it never occurred to me to do anything about random litter lying around.

The other day, though, I was in the subway, where an empty Snapple bottle was rolling around to the great annoyance of everyone in the car. The bottle rolled back and forth, and I thought, “Someone should pick that up.” Then I thought—“Someone like me! Why shouldn’t I be the one to pick it up?” So I did. I was astonished by the surge of good feeling I got, quite disproportionate to such a minor action.

Since then, I’ve looked for chances to throw away other people’s trash. Newspapers strewn across seats in the airport, coffee cups abandoned on counters, that kind of thing. (Want more ideas? Look at these tips.)

“Do good, feel good” is a happiness truism that really is true. Act like a considerate citizen of the world, and you’ll also boost your self-esteem. How about you? Have you felt a boost in your feelings of self-worth after doing something worthwhile?

If you want to read more about this, check out Happier at Home, chapter 9. (Can't resist adding: New York Times bestseller.)

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(Photo: justin_taylor33, Flickr)