7 Steps To Impress Your Boss

We all want to get ahead. Still, even when it seems you’re doing everything right — you’re never late to work, rarely take a sick day, and always meet deadlines — promotions can be few and far between.

You’re putting the work in, so why aren’t you getting rewarded? The answer is simple: you don’t get promoted for fulfilling your boss’s expectations.

Your boss’s expectations are the price of entry. Even if you’re making a great effort and doing all that’s asked of you, you won’t stand out. 

You’ll be seen as someone who completes the minimum requirements, and no one who builds a great career is seen this way.

The trick to advancing your career and getting paid more is to add value by making certain your contributions are worth more than you’re paid. You want to go above and beyond so that you’re seen as someone highly valuable—someone the organization can’t live without.

You should aim to exceed your boss’s expectations so much that he feels like he’s the smartest guy in the world for hiring you.

This isn’t as hard as it sounds. In fact, you can blow your boss’s mind in seven easy steps.

Step 1: Beyond developing the skills you need for your job, learn about your company’s industry, competitors, latest developments, and challenges.

Professional development is important, but why stop there? If you really want to blow your boss’s mind, soak up everything you can about your company and your industry.

For example, if you’re an IT developer, instead of simply learning the current best practices in coding, learn how those practices are being applied throughout your industry.

Transferring your knowledge to the real-world context of your organization is a great way to add value. 

On top of knowing how to do your job, it shows that you know why you’re doing it and why it matters.

Step 2: Instead of always having the answer, pre-empt the question.

It’s a good feeling when you can answer your boss’s questions on the spot, without shuffling through piles of paper or telling her that you’ll have to get back to her. 

But if you really want to blow her mind, pre-empt the question. 

Anticipate what she wants to stay on top of, and send her regular updates. You’ll save her time and energy, and she’ll appreciate that just as much as your enthusiasm.

Step 3: Instead of owning up to mistakes once they’re discovered, bring them to light yourself.

Accountability is a lost art. Too many people try to cover up their mistakes, fearing the repercussions of admitting fault. Show your boss that you’re not afraid to own up to your mistakes, and he’ll be amazed. 

When you make a mistake, just give your boss a simple heads-up, and have a solution ready. Even better, tell him the steps you’ve already taken to mitigate the problem.

Everyone makes mistakes. You’ll stand out by showing your boss that you’re accountable, creative, and proactive when you inevitably make them.

Step 4: Instead of asking for training, do it on your own.

Typical career advice is to ask your boss to send you to classes and workshops to improve your skills. But we’re not talking about what’s typical; we’re talking about blowing your boss’s mind. 

Pursue training yourself, on your own time. It doesn’t have to be expensive; there are plenty of online courses available free or close to free. 

While everybody else is asking the boss to send them to training, you can tell her what you’ve already done, and your initiative will be rewarded. 

You’ll save the company money and get ahead, and expand your skillset at the same time.

Step 5: Instead of doing what you’re told, be proactive.

Anybody (well, almost anybody) can do what they’re told. To blow your boss’s mind, you have to be proactive. If you see a problem, fix it. If you see something that needs doing, do it. 

Put together a how-to guide for new hires, document your processes and figure out where you can streamline them, or do whatever else you can think of to make a difference.

Bosses appreciate vision more than anything. They love it when you see what could be useful to the company over the long term—and don’t forget to tell your boss about it. 

It’s only “kissing up” if you do it manipulatively or with the intention of making your co-workers look bad. 

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with owning your accomplishments.

Step 6: Build relationships with other departments.

It’s practically guaranteed that, at some point, your department will need help or input from another area. 

An excellent way to blow your boss’s mind is to build relationships throughout the company. 

Person-to-person interactions are almost always more effective than department-to-department exchanges. You can make your boss’s day by saying, “Why don’t I take care of that for you? I know someone who can get that done for us right away.”

Step 7: Be the calm one in a crisis.

Few things get your boss’s attention like your ability to weather a storm. 

Whether it’s conflict between people, everyone freaking out over a rule change, or what have you, make certain that you’re the one who remains calm, composed, and in control of your emotions. 

Your composure and ability to think clearly during a crisis demonstrates leadership potential, and leaders get promoted. 

Bringing It All Together

The people who achieve the most are those who add the most value. 

Business is, after all, about making a profit. 

You want your boss and the company to know that they’re getting a great return on the time and money they’re investing in you.

There's Work To Be Done

My People,

Greetings of the new day to you

Here is hoping that you and yours woke up well and are keying into God’s plan for you today. May His Holy Name be continually praised now and for ever Amen.

It’s a Saturday and the much awaited weekend is here

Oh how good it feels to just sleep on, to just lie in and sleep as if there are no headaches in the world, as if we have no challenges, as if we don’t even want to come out of bed again

But my dear, sleep what you may, there is still work to be done.

For until we arrive at that stage in life when

--  there are no more hunger and injustice,

--  no more abject poverty, want and penury,

--  no more hankering after things that do not belong to us,

--  no more politically motivated killings and kidnappings,

--  no more degradation of the environment,

--  no more discrimination against persons based on their gender, class, ethnic origin, shape of their heads, colour of their eyes, sexuality, diseases or their likes,

--  no more economically motivated killings,

--  no more BOKO HARAM,

-- no more FULIANI JIHADISTS masquerading as Cattle Rearers

--  no more Scientifically Packaged Lies against the People

--  no more BOGUS CLAIMS by Persons in High Offices of things they have done when it is obvious that all they have done is to loot the people blind

--  unemployment and underemployment reduced to barest minimum …..

Until then, my dear friend, THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE

So don’t over sleep in the guise of resting from the stress of the week, for even today would come with its own stress. We were born in stress, through stress and in stress do we live.

Do the needful, rest yes but wake up to pursue your goals for the day. A day without goals is a wasted day

It’s the weekend people

Live your life well

Happy weekend

Bless and be blessed

#DrJTF

Happy Children's Day To All Nigerian Children

My Friends

It's Friday and it's the 27th day of May 2016

Apart from the fact that it is the last Friday in the month of May 2016, it is also the harbinger of the weekend that we always look forward to but in Nigeria, it is the CHILDREN'S DAY

A day set aside to celebrate Nigerian Children where-ever they are and in whatever position they find themselves.

No child has a choice as to who became their parent, no child has a choice as to which geographical enclave they are born or into which religious sect they are raised.

But Parents have a responsibility, to raise their children to become World Citizens and not just some fanatic somewhere.

Parents have a duty to allow their children enjoy God given rights to education, to health, to exercising their creativity and in being who they were born to be.

Much as Parents would desire that their children live the lives they themselves were unable to live, but it is important to know that history has shown that most children who were forcefully cloned to become like their parents, usually throw off such toga at some point in their lives thus causing a heavy mental blow on their Parents.

Today, I join the rest of Nigerians in celebrating Nigeria's Children and to wish them a WONDERFUL day and a WONDERFUL life!

Happy Celebration

Dr. Jerry - the First Oguzie: JP

#DrJTF

How To Unshackle Oneself From Financial Slavery

Anyone can unshackle himself from “financial slavery,” as it were, in a relatively short period of time.

So just about anyone for that matter – can achieve freedom from financial slavery in just a few years. It does not have to be a lifelong process.

If you are in this situation, here is what you must do:

First, you must ask yourself if you are willing to give up the hope of getting rich quickly by investing.

Are you willing to accept the fact that you won’t go from broke to being a millionaire by investing in the next Microsoft?

If you can’t honestly and completely answer “yes” to that question, you might as well go read another analyst… one who will tell you what you want to hear.

But if you are ready, the next thing you need to do is think about what you mean by “financial slavery.”

What does that term mean?

Most commonly it means two things:

-----     You earn less than you spend.

-----     You owe more than you own.

If you earn less than you spend, you are in a constant state of stress.

You must put off or partially pay your bills. You must appease creditors. And all the while, your debt is mounting.

If you owe more than you own, you can’t buy a house or lease a car or get a loan from anyone other than your parents. (And what if they are dead or tired of helping you… or don’t have the money?)

Because you are in so much trouble, you can’t even think about taking nice vacations or retiring someday. Instead, you have to worry about losing your job. So you keep working and reading investment newsletters. But as each month passes, your financial situation gets worse.

It’s a miserable existence. But it doesn’t have to last. You can break the chains you feel attached to by simply recognizing and reversing the two “facts” mentioned above.

Problem No. 1: You earn less than you spend.

Solution: Spend less and earn more.

You can’t break the chains of slavery without hitting them hard with a big mallet.

You won’t be able to gain the independence you want in a few years or less by cutting $10 here and $50 there.

My recommendation is to cut your expenses by 30% to 50%.

I know that sounds crazy. And it may be impossible in your case. But don’t dismiss the idea until you hear me out.

The primary factor in how much you spend every month is the neighborhood you live in.

Your neighborhood creates the financial culture that presents the spending choices you make. If you live in a community of million-dollar homes, you will be looking at new BMWs and Audis when it comes to buying or leasing a car. When you go out to dinner, chances are, you’ll be spending more than a hundred dollars per couple.

Unless you live in a working-class neighborhood now, you can radically reduce your spending by moving into one.

I have friends and family members in this situation. They live in $350,000 homes in beautiful neighborhoods and drive luxury cars. But the reality is they are broke and getting poorer every month. They refuse to even consider the idea of downsizing because they are simply too ashamed to do so. What they don’t realize is every month they try to “hold on,” it is making them poorer.

Moving to a less expensive neighborhood would be the quickest, biggest, and surest way to bring their spending down by 30% to 50%.

The other thing you must do to improve your situation is to earn more money.

You should take immediate steps to increase your income by 20% to 50%.

Again, I know that seems radical, but if you want a “short-term” solution out of financial slavery, this is just as important as radically cutting expenses.

Problem No. 2: You owe more than you own.

Solution: Start owing less and owning more.

If you have accumulated a lot of debt, it means that you don’t see debt as financially dangerous.

You must accept the fact that most debt you have is bad for you. There are only a few exceptions: mortgage debt when interest rates are low, and business debt when the business is sound and you are not personally liable.

The first step toward debt management is to get rid of every credit card you have, as well as any credit you have with your bankers.

Use cash or debit cards for your shopping. Yes, that means there will be lots of things you can’t buy every month. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing.

If you have a lot of existing credit card debt, you need to consolidate it. Then work with a professional to pay it off at reasonable interest rates.

If you are lucky enough to have equity in your home, trading it for a cheaper one (see above) will accomplish two important goals: it will reduce your monthly expenses, and it will give you a chunk of cash that you can use to pay off debt or put aside as savings.

You must also increase what you own. And by that, I do NOT mean cars or boats or furniture or toys. I mean tangible assets that are likely to appreciate. Gold coins, income-producing real estate, and safe stocks belong in this category.

Every extra after-tax dollar you make by taking on extra work or starting a side business should be devoted to increasing your ownership of such assets. None of it should be spent.

Being financially independent is not about having a big house or driving new cars or taking fancy vacations. There are tens of thousands of Americans in that situation today who are financial slaves, just like you.

They are in chains because they spend more than they make and owe more than they own. Their stress is just as great as yours, even though they may make more money or have more toys.

Being financially independent means having more income than you need and owing far less than you own.

It means knowing that you won’t be harassed by bill collectors or embarrassed at the supermarket.

It means you have money put aside to take care of any emergencies that come up, and it means a savings account that gets substantially bigger every year.

Becoming a multimillionaire takes years. But breaking the chains of financial slavery can be done relatively quickly.

The hardest part is recognizing the chains that are binding you – earning less than you spend and owing more than you own – and deciding to do something serious about them.

There, you have the plan in front of you now. It’s up to you whether you follow it.

Let us know what are you going to do today to get on the right path to become independently wealthy in the comments section below.

I'm A Survivor

Survival of the fittest, that's the only game in town

If you make yourself a sheep, the wolves will eat you up

So, toughen your skin and go out there and survive

then and only then will you have a story to tell

See

Change Your Seed

If you don't like your harvest, change your seed. You can't sow Corn and reap Apple, it will be the highest level of stupidity to pray for such a miracle. Whatever we are today, it is as a result of the seed we had sown yesterday. Change your tomorrow today.

Shoot For The Moon

 "Aim for the moon, even if you miss you will land among the stars and be showered with the star dust"

Look Up To The Sun Shine

. "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead". – Louisa Marie Alcott

Live With Intention

"Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is." – Mary Anner Radmacher

Goals Serve As Elixir

"Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day. Goals tend to tap the deeper resources and draw the best out of life." – Harvey Mackay

Live Longer

“You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.” Ruth E. Renkl

Ambition Is The Life Driver

"It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the parent of all enterprise, and the cause of all improvement." – Anthony Trollope

The Golden Rule... In Reverse

The Golden Rule says you should treat others as you wish to be treated.

Let’s reverse that for second: treat yourself the kind way you often treat others.

Want to be more self-compassionate? It’s easy. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend who was having problems. Kristin Neff, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Self-Compassion, says:

One easy way to be self-compassionate is just ask yourself, “What if I had a very close friend who was experiencing the exact same thing that I am experiencing now?” The idea is you use that same quality of warmth, support, encouragement, tenderness, understanding with yourself that you more typically show to other people.

Sound silly? Tell that to the Navy SEALs. Positive self-talk is one of the methods that showed the best results in helping them get through their incredibly difficult training.

Talking to yourself out loud can make you smarter, improve your memory, help you focus and even increase athletic performance.

Maybe you’re not buying it. Talking to yourself not doing it for you? Imagine someone who loves you saying the kind words instead. Research shows this delivers serious results.

From Self-Compassion:

Practitioners first instruct patients to generate an image of a safe place to help counter any fears that may arise. They are then instructed to create an ideal image of a caring and compassionate figure… The training resulted in significant reductions in depression, self-attacking, feelings of inferiority, and shame.

You forgive others all the time. You need to start forgiving yourself more often.

Seriously, it’s not easy but don’t give up. In fact, at first, being self-compassionate can be hard. Why?

You need to admit you screwed up. Being self-compassionate means you can’t be in denial or rationalize. And that hurts at first. Ironically, becoming self-compassionate requires self-compassion.

But it’s not a paradox. It’s like a muscle. Exercise it and it will grow.

Here’s Kristin:

The practice itself has to be approached in a self-compassionate manner. It’s a slow process. It can feel like you’re doing it wrong somehow. In fact it’s very important to know this is part of the natural healing process.

Stop beating yourself up. Admit you made a mistake. And then treat yourself kindly like you would a friend who screwed up.

As Kristin explains in her book:

Who is the only person in your life who is available 24/7 to provide you with care and kindness? You.

Life Is Short

Life is short

and tomorrow is not promised to anybody

the only day you have is TODAY

make the most out of it

just in case it becomes the last

Enjoy today

Things To Do

"Don't just think about the things you have done, think about the things you haven't done but you want to do!"

Try Something

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something."– Franklin Roosevelt

Put Your Faith To Test

." Faith is daring to put your dream to the test. It is better to try to do something and fail than to try to do nothing and succeed." – Robert Schuller

The Best Thing To Do

"In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing." – Theodore Roosevelt

Before You Take The Next Step

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road." – Dag Hammarskjold

You Can Become Great

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great". – Mark Twain

Great Minds

"Great minds have purposes, others have wishes" – Washington Irving

Watch The Sunlight

"Watch the sunrise at least once a year, put a lot of marshmallows in your hot chocolate, lie on your back and look at the stars, never buy a coffee table you can't put your feet on, never pass up a chance to jump on a trampoline, don't overlook life's small joys while searching for the big ones". – Jackson Brown

Discover Yourself

"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself." – Alan Alda

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan - GCFR

The Weekend Faces

Have a very wonderful weekend and make every second of it count

It's The Weekend People

People

The weekend you craved for is finally here

And what are you going to do with it?

If you are already awake as I am, then it has already started

which means that you have gone through your morning rituals and working on your device now creating a life for yourself and others who may read you

And if you are still on bed as it were, then the weekend is yet to start in action though it has started in principle.

Whichever is the case, this is a day to really take some time and inhale deeply before exhaling

Take stock of the week

and try and work out all the bad news you were inundated with as the week rolled by

all the pains inflicted on your psyche by psychopaths

all the deprivations you may have experienced within the week

take your time today, work them out of your system and be refreshed and renewed

And as you do that, I'd surely see you on the other side of the day

Take care

Dr. Jerry - the First Oguzie: JP

#DrJTF

The Many Faces Of Friday

A Short Course In Human Relations

A SHORT COURSE IN HUMAN RELATIONS

The SEVEN most important words: ''I DON'T KNOW, BUT I'LL FIND OUT.''

The SIX most important words: ''I ADMIT I MADE A  MISTAKE.''

The FIVE most important words: ''YOU DID A GOOD JOB.''

The FOUR most important words:  ''WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ?.''

The THREE most important words: ''IF YOU PLEASE.''

The TWO most important words:  ''THANK YOU.''

The ONE most important word: ''WE.''

The LEAST important word: '' I.''