Category: Success

Viral: on the Internet, when you comment on anything, good or bad, you give it attention, and attention is power. Photo by Tobias Rademacher on Unsplash

Viral: on the Internet, when you comment on anything, good or bad, you give it attention, and attention is power. ~ Jay Wren       Photo by Tobias Rademacher on Unsplash

To be resilient, we must be able to forgive ourselves about our mistakes. Carrying around guilt lowers our self-esteem and confidence. Guilt does not help us correct mistakes. It only makes it more difficult to repair to damaged relationships. So, let go of guilt. If you made a mistake, do not repeat it. If you…… Continue reading Guilt – A Painful Waste of Time

On the other hand, when we are around people with different beliefs, the things that those people say, do, and write, threaten our beliefs. On the surface, we feel anger. Beneath the surface, we feel fear. Threats to our beliefs threaten our self-esteem. We do not feel good when people make us examine our beliefs.…… Continue reading Comfortable Lies

Confirmation bias is the emotional and mental experience that we have based on our beliefs. Unconsciously, we say to ourselves, “This information is true because it reinforces my beliefs.” On the other hand, we will unconsciously say to ourselves, “This information is false because it conflicts with my beliefs.” Different beliefs and ideologies between people…… Continue reading Critical Thinking

Book Excerpt: Best Jobs. Brightest Careers. Updating Your Career Strategy The Benefits of Updating Your Career Strategy: A great career plan is an opportunity map. Your strategy must be flexible. With an updated plan, you will discover new roads for opportunities to succeed. Moreover, students and professionals who have developed and follow their own career…… Continue reading Planning – Updating Your Career Strategy

Our beliefs become hardwired in our minds. They control our thinking and our feelings about what other people say and do. Sometimes friendships fall apart because people develop new beliefs. Other times, people who have been friends realize over time that some of their beliefs have never been the same on some issues. However, if…… Continue reading Similarities

Do we have choices over the way that we feel and think? I believe that we do. Of course, I know that my day can change with the events that I experience. But what about the things that I choose to put in my mind? I can choose things that change how I respond mentally…… Continue reading Choices

Successful people not only know where they are going. They have a purpose. They know what they will do when they get there. ~ Jay Wren Have a purpose for the things you plan to do. Ask yourself questions like these: What do you want to accomplish? Who will benefit from your purpose? Will the…… Continue reading Have a Purpose

The fear of the future is often more painful than experiencing the actual event. These fears cripple our mind and imagination. When we are afraid, we can take a deep breath. We can clear our head by getting into action. We can write about our fears, and we can discuss them with friends. Often all…… Continue reading Peace of Mind

Authentic leaders the kind of trust that build creates success within an organization. To be authentic, leaders must have the self-awareness, the self-honesty, and the humility to recognize when their own direction and actions are not in the best interest of the company. They have an open mind to receiving input from the people who…… Continue reading Authentic Leadership

Are you finding new ways to build on your success? Innovation creates changes. Attitudes create changes. Economics creates changes. Mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations create changes. The unknowns will create changes that we can’t imagine. Changes eliminate opportunities for people who are not changing with industry. However, people who stay successful develop new skills and continue…… Continue reading Finding Opportunities

Healthy Reflection: Caring about what other people think about you is normal. But you cannot control what other people think. Worrying about what other people think is a waste of time.   https://www.jaywren.com/worry/     Photo Credit: Photo by Mitchell Orr on Unsplash

Are you holding yourself back? Trust yourself to become a powerful performer. Put together all the pieces to create success. Why shouldn’t you be the powerful performer that you want to become? Just turn the desire to become a power performer into doing the things that enable you to become that power performer. Photo by…… Continue reading Trust Yourself

Knowledgeable, well-trained people are a company’s greatest asset. There is no game without the players. There are no goods or services without the people to create and deliver them. The value of a company increases as the result of the increase in the quality of the performance of its people. New products come from the…… Continue reading The People are the Company’s Greatest Assets

The Challenging Work of Selecting Great People As a recruiter who worked with wonderful human resources people and hiring managers, I know the challenges people face in making great hires.  Over the years, I built a check-off list of traits I considered when making referrals.  Using this list, I increased my placement to referral rate. …… Continue reading Great People

Happiness is easy when everything is going our way. Some people seem happy all the time. How can we be happy even when life is challenging? https://www.jaywren.com/happiness/

Worrying is Not Planning. When I am planning, I am actively engaged in the present moment. I am acting on things that I will do in the future. When I am worrying, I am just sticking pins in my brain with the idea that I am somehow seeking a solution.

If you want to change the subject in your head, do something. Call someone. Read anything: a book, a website, a magazine, whatever changes your thinking. Walk around the block. Turn on the television. Put on some music. Just do something. https://www.jaywren.com/act-to-find-joy-peace-and-success/

Emotional Intelligence: Learning how to manage emotions is part of growing up. However, becoming aware that our feelings are making us dumber is not always easy. How do successful people deal with emotions to make better decisions? https://www.jaywren.com/emotional-intelligence/

Poise is not always automatic. Nearly everyone feels uncertain and lacks poise from time-to-time. How do successful people restore their confidence and maintain their poise in challenging situations? https://www.jaywren.com/poise/

People who see themselves as victims of the past and future lose power over their lives. However, they can step out of the role of the victim when they empower themselves to find gratitude for the present moment. I am grateful for the fact that I have the present moment to be effective at my…… Continue reading Gratitude and the Present Moment

Master the Power of Overcoming Fear The Power of Overcoming Fear: What is fear and why do we need it? When does it help us to survive? When does it turn on us and make us less effective? You can have power over fear. You can enjoy life more, and you can help other people…… Continue reading Master the Power of Overcoming Fear

When you find yourself needing confidence, try smiling. https://www.jaywren.com/smiling

Team Success: What traits engage and build loyalty among team members? This article covers five of the traits I have found among successful organizations. photo credit: Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.com  

https://www.jaywren.com/worrying/

Don’t Wait for Success to Be Happy. Happiness doesn’t happen in the future. Nothing exists in the future. Everything can only exist here and now. Becoming happy today gives us energy and brings joy to our lives. Image: @tyybone https://www.jaywren.com/dont-wait-for-success-to-be-happy/

Toxic people create stress that spreads throughout an organization. What are the skills that you can develop not only to survive but to grow around destructive personalities? https://www.jaywren.com/toxic-people/  

Toxic people create stress that spreads throughout an organization. What are the skills that you can develop not only to survive but to grow around destructive personalities?

Happiness and Joy don’t happen in the past or the future. Everything can only exist here and now.

Problems are part of life. Success comes from finding solutions to the problems in your life. Everyone has problems. These problems lead to frustration. Additionally, frustrations make it easy to give up instead of acting on personal and career obstacles. We can become fearful and feel self-pity. Problems can make it easy for us to…… Continue reading Focus on Solutions

Solutions: Viewing the world as a series of problems is discouraging, even scary. https://www.jaywren.com/solutions/

Life’s challenges create pressure. I can’t always eliminate these challenges, but I can reduce the pressure by being smart about how I respond to them. https://www.jaywren.com/stress-reduction/

https://www.jaywren.com/stress-reduction

Every day there are opportunities to create success from where you are. Look ahead without regret of the past or fear of the future. ~ www.jaywren.com https://www.jaywren.com/become-discovered/

https://www.jaywren.com/winning-behavior/

Spring evening in Sacramento.

https://www.jaywren.com/successful-telephone-meetings/

https://www.jaywren.com/creating-future-leaders/

https://www.jaywren.com/wisdom

https://www.jaywren.com/trust/

https://www.jaywren.com/stay-flexible

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https://www.jaywren.com/building-trust/  

Anxiety is an emotion not an event. https://www.jaywren.com/emotional-intelligence-2/

https://www.jaywren.com/people/

https://www.jaywren.com/creating-leaders  

https://www.jaywren.com/poise

https://www.jaywren.com/social-anxiety-is-it-killing-your-career

Successful people have setbacks. Everyone does. But successful people bounce back. They have persistence. They are resilient. ~ www.jaywren.com Do you have the qualities of persistence and resilience? If not, how can you develop them? With persistence, great sports teams come from behind to win the game. Great inventors with persistence work through research and…… Continue reading Persistence and Resilience: Empowered for Success

Self-consciousness is an obstacle to confidence. When I lack confidence, I am focusing on myself. Loss of Confidence When I lack confidence, I am focusing on myself. I have a heightened feeling of uncertainty about my abilities and about my acceptability. Confidence, for me, comes from focusing on my activity and my surroundings: the people…… Continue reading Self-Consciousness

Things we don’t think about don’t scare us. ~ www.jaywren.com Who doesn’t have days when we worry about things going badly? We want things and worry that we will not get them. Or, we have things and worry that we will lose them. Living in fear of what might happen is pointless and painful. The…… Continue reading How to Stop Scaring Ourselves with Our Thinking

Your network is your sphere of influence. ~ www.jaywren.com One powerful way to gain recognition is to have influential people write or talk about you. If you know people in any form of media, consider whether those people might help you gain recognition. A simple technique that I used at one time was to have…… Continue reading Creating Relationships with Influencers

A successful virtual (or phone) interview carries as much weight as an in-person interview. Without success in either one, you cannot move ahead in the interview process.  In any interview, you need to know what to expect and how to prepare for the interview discussion. Additionally, in a virtual phone or virtual interview, you need…… Continue reading The Simple Steps to Success in Virtual Interviews

There are many traits of winning team members. Here are six of the best traits. Mistakes Team members own their mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. On winning teams, the members admit them and do not repeat them. Additionally, these members immediately correct their mistakes. Without delay, they move the team along successfully. Job Description Winning team members know…… Continue reading Winning Team Members

Self-comparisons are normal, but not always healthy.  For some people, success comes early and appears to be easy. Some tech entrepreneurs become billionaires in their twenties. Often, entertainers become famous and wealthy as children. Athletes become millionaires in their late teens and early twenties.  Measuring our success against the success of these people is flawed.…… Continue reading Self-comparisons

The direction of my day begins with the thoughts that I reject or embrace as I become awake. From there, the success of my day comes from how I turn these thoughts into actions. Ruminating  There is a difference between planning and ruminating. When I am planning, I am actively engaged in the present moment.…… Continue reading The Direction of My Day

New Directions Along the way, my career has taken new directions. As an undergraduate student, I had planned to become a college professor. However, the military obligation I faced required that I serve in the military. Even though I had never been at sea and had no college preparation for Officer Candidate School, I chose…… Continue reading New Directions: You Got This

Long-term success comes from a lifetime of repeating daily steps. www.jaywren.com Long-Term Success: What are the things that successful people do to build a long-term career? Can you do these things? Can you repeat them throughout yourcareer? During three decades working as a corporate recruiter, I saw people do many things to create successful careers.…… Continue reading A Lifetime of Success

Starting Now: Remember, success does not come from trying to change things we can’t control. Success comes from acting on the opportunities in front of us. www.jaywren.com Technology creates changes. Innovation creates changes. Attitudes create changes. Economics creates changes. Mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations create changes. The unknowns will create changes that we can imagine.However, people…… Continue reading Starting Now, Act on Opportunities

A deadline is not a wall for failure. It is the door to success. www.jaywren.com Some projects require months, even years to complete. How do successful people meet deadlines and achieve success with long-term projects? This article lists some ideas that you might find helpful. Daily Reminders, Project Managers, Lists, Clutter, Priorities, One Step Daily Reminders…… Continue reading How to Meet Deadlines

Do you fear being wrong? That fear is normal. With a little understanding and simple habits, you can manage that fear. You can become more confident. Your mind will become clearer. Moreover, you will make better decisions and respond more effectively to the people around you. The Origin of our Fear Conditioned from the crib,…… Continue reading Overcoming the Fear of Being Wrong

For successful people, school is never over. They learn as if they will live forever. Developing new skills will increase your potential for success. You will be able to contribute more greatly at your current job. Additionally, new skills can increase your value when you start to look for a job. Staying current on changes…… Continue reading For Successful People, School is Never Over

Your performance review affects your promotions, your pay raises, and your job security. Go for a gold medal review. www.jaywren.com Management Changes As managers come and go or as you move to different responsibilities in your company, the things in your performance review are the documentation that you need to keep your career on track…… Continue reading 6 Tips for a Gold Medal Performance Review

The Best Direction Tells People What to Do A guest lecturer at one of my undergraduate classes put a note on the chalkboard and quickly erased the note and posted a different note. Then she apologized. She said that she had just broken a basic principle of teaching. That is, only show people the information…… Continue reading Great Direction Focuses on Solutions

Lifetime Career Success: Building a successful career is a continual process of expanding your skills and your network. Don’t fear change. Embrace it. Move beyond your comfort zone. Self-doubt is a sign that I am growing. With growth, I gain greater confidence and marketability. The Texas Ice Houses At one time, ice houses sold one…… Continue reading Lifetime Career Success Requires the Power to Grow

If we say things that offend people at work or in our businesses, we hurt our co-workers, our employees, our employers, and ourselves. The things you say are things that show commitment, loyalty, and enthusiasm. They create esprit de corps. The purpose of the workplace is to work. When team members talk about the job…… Continue reading 5 Things Not to Discuss in Your New Workplace

Is there a job you would like to have but do not have the skills for that job? Perhaps there is even a job in your current company that you would like to do if you were qualified. Find ways to develop those skills. First, Find the Skills that You Need. Online Job Descriptions People…… Continue reading Expand Your Qualifications with New Skills

Just the process of seeking a new job requires effort and creates stress. Meeting new people in networking and interviewing is stressful for most people. If you have a job, making interviews with another company creates the stress of getting away from your work without being discovered.  Along with normal life experiences of getting married,…… Continue reading The Stress of a Job Change

If a hiring manager or recruiter calls you and you have no interest in making a job change but would like to begin to develop a relationship so that you can have people to contact for future needs, you are smart to avoid a discussion of income. These people have no need to know your income…… Continue reading Income and Job Changes

A former employer is a future reference. Leave them with a smile. www.jaywren.com Resigning Gracefully: When you’re leaving a company, knowing how to say goodbye gracefully is important. Using the following steps will reduce the stress for you and avoid burning bridges with the company you are leaving. Review You Decision Before resigning, once again…… Continue reading Resigning Gracefully: The Do’s and Don’ts of Leaving a Company

Keywords and Refinements: Search engines are like people in that they are more effective when they can understand what you are asking them to do. ~ www.jaywren.com Making your job search more effective, using search engines.  Search engines return resumes based on keywords. Keywords and Refinements Start your internet search with job title, company, or other…… Continue reading Job Search Keywords and Refinements

Synergy versus Silos: Synergy is the process of combining the efforts of individuals or organizations to operate at level greater than the combined talent of the individual members. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Said another way, in this process, teams produce greater results together than the total combined results of…… Continue reading Synergy versus Silos: Increasing Your Company’s Success

At Your New Job, Treat Every Meeting as a Job Interview Once you land a job, you are competing with other people inside and outside your company to keep your job and to progress in your career. If you want job security and, especially if you want to get promoted, treat each day as a…… Continue reading At Your New Job, Treat Every Meeting as a Job Interview